


The Two Princes

by HeavenlyDisaster



Category: Loki - Fandom, MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Brotherhood, Depression, F/M, Gen, Love, Multi, Odin (Marvel)'s Bad Parenting, Other, Self-Hatred, Strength, Suicide Attempt, The power of friendship, Wry Humor, bed sharing, mischief and chaos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-02-11 22:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 64,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12944988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavenlyDisaster/pseuds/HeavenlyDisaster
Summary: Short stories from Thor's and Loki's childhoods growing up in the palace of Asgard.  The main relationship, I suppose, is the brotherly bond between Thor and Loki and the events that transpired leading to where they are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.





	1. Hide and Seek and Destroy

The palace was enormous.  Fourteen bedrooms, two kitchens, a private dining hall and a public banquet hall, a trophy room, a dungeon, a reception room, a medical wing, three libraries, nine sitting rooms, four gardens, and one throne room.  In short, there were a million hiding places.  He could have hidden in any number of them.  Instead, he was standing in the middle of the sitting room focusing on his breathing.

He was so quiet and so still for so long that he was beginning to get bored.  He wondered if anyone was even coming for him.  At long last, a small shadow passed the open doorway and the fluffy blonde head of his brother appeared.  In place of his usual good natured grin, a scowl was etched into his square-jawed face.  Loki suspected it was because of him.  Where once, there had been few places where he could hide without his brother quickly detecting him, he was now a near expert at hiding and evading.

He watched his brother creep around the room, his head on a swivel.  He was trying, in vain, to be stealthy, but his brother was the complete opposite of stealth.  He was big and loud and boisterous.  He called attention to himself whenever he entered a room even without meaning to.  Already, everyone could tell that he would grow to be a massive force to be contended with.  All the same, it was amusing to watch him try.  He dropped to all fours and scuffled along the floor looking under the furniture.  Once he had made it all the way around the room, he slammed his hands on the ground and growled.  He stood and toppled an orange and yellow armchair.  It clattered noisily to the floor.  He continued tossing things around the room.

Outside, Loki detected three distinct voices.  "Girls can do whatever boys can!"  A girl declared.  "Oh, really?  Can they pee standing up?"  A boy countered.  "We could if we wanted to, but why would we want to?"  Three shadows slipped over the wall outside.  Fandral, Volstagg, and Sif entered the room.  Volstagg had a mouth full of creme tarts and three more in his hands.  Fandral had a wooden short sword in his hand and Sif had her own.  They fell silent as they stared at the angry blonde child.  He didn't notice their presence as lost as he was in his minor temper tantrum.  The three children looked at each other with bored expressions.  They were all long used to his moods.

"What are you doing?"  Sif asked after a few empty seconds filled with the sounds of his grunts and bellows.  Thor paused and looked at his friends over his shoulder.  He dropped the vase in his hands and it crashed to the ground.  Loki winced and hoped he wouldn't be blamed for it.

"I  _was_ looking for Loki, but he is nowhere to be found."  Fandral wandered around the edge of the room touching everything and Volstagg walked to the window, shoving creme tarts in his mouth.  "Now that you are all here, how about we go outside and play?"  Loki trembled with rage and tried to remember his breathing.

"Are you certain that he did not turn himself into the furniture?"  Sif asked.  She looked at the toppled armchair and frowned.  Loki curled his hands into fists.  He regretted letting her in on his new trick.  He had told her that he wanted to surprise his brother.

"Turn himself into furniture?  What are you talking about?"  Thor demanded.  Sif realized her mistake and looked away shaking her head.

"It was only a joke."  She answered weakly.  Thor was unconvinced.  He moved closer to her and leaned over, forcing her to look him in the eyes.  Sif blushed.  Loki seethed.

"Do you know something I do not know, Sif?"  Her blush became more intense.  She looked away in a desperate attempt to save face.  Right at Loki.  Her blush faded and a line formed between her two thin, black eyebrows.  Thor noticed the change.  He turned and followed her gaze.

For the first time since he entered the room, Thor noticed the peculiar torch stand in the middle of the room.  It was gold as so many of the things in the palace were, but two strips of emerald green ran up either side.  Thor stepped toward it and tilted his head to the side as though trying to place it.

Loki waited until Thor was barely an inch away from him.  He released his illusion and drew his daggers in the same moment.  Thor leaned away in surprise but Loki's quick hands managed to catch his shoulder with his knife.  Thor shouted in pain and grabbed his now bleeding shoulder.  Loki ducked under his brother's arm and ran for the door.  He looked at Sif as he passed her and stuck his tongue out.  Her eyes widened in surprise.  Her brows knit together in sadness.  Fandral and Volstagg were standing by the door, but both were too shocked to make any more to stop him.

Loki darted out the door and down the hall.  He was a good ways away, when he head the thunderous boom of his brother.  "LOKI!"  Loki snickered and ducked into a hidden corridor at the end of the hallway.  He stopped there to catch his breath and smiled when he heard his brother's over sized feet slapping against the stone floor as he charged past him.  Once again, Thor was oblivious to his brother's presence.

Loki sighed and back further down the hall, keeping an eye out in case Thor returned.  He took another step backward and his back hit something solid.  Fear squeezed in his gut and he whipped around quickly.  He looked up and up and into the sparkling eyes of his mother.  Loki swallowed tightly.  Frigga pressed her lips together and folded her arms across her chest.  Loki smiled up at her and chuckled nervously.

"Loki, I teach you magic for you protection.  I expect you to have the good sense to use it only against your enemies and serious threats."  She gave him a stern look.  "That does  _not_ include your brother."  Loki frowned down at the dark floor and nodded mutely.  "Now, why did you cut him?"  She demanded.

Loki shrugged.  "I do not know."  He mumbled.

"Loki...."  Loki winced at her disapproving tone.  He sighed.

"Thor and I were playing and then his friends showed up and ruined everything and he stopped looking for me and...I don't know.  I was just angry or frustrated or something."  He looked up at Frigga timidly.  To his surprise, she was smiling gently down at him.

"Loki," she breathed, "your brother loves you.  Even if his attentions are otherwise engaged with the others.  You are his brother and that means you will always be his best friend."

"Okay."  Loki replied, unconvinced.

"You doubt me, Loki?"  Loki shrugged.  "Thor is charismatic and strong and kind.  Even with his temper, people naturally gravitate to him.  Because of this, many people will come and go from his life, but  _you_ ," Frigga touched the tip of his nose, "will always be by his side."

"What if he does not want me by his side?"  Frigga frowned.

"You are his brother, he does not have a choice."  She paused.  "Besides, if Thor did not want you around, he would not go out of his way to look for you.  He tells you his secrets.  It would behoove you to confide in him yours."  Loki frowned.  He didn't trust anyone with his secrets.  He didn't think anyone would understand.

"THERE YOU ARE!"  Thor thundered behind him.  Loki jumped in shock and fear, a small yip escaped his lips and he dove towards Frigga.  Thor stopped short when he saw who Loki was with.  "Mother!"  He cried.  Loki made to duck around her skirts, but Frigga held him steadfast in front of her.

"Loki, I believe there is something you wish to say to your brother."  Thor looked down at Loki and Loki looked down at the floor.

"Sorry."  He mumbled.  Frigga nudged him.  Loki let his shoulders sag in defeat.  "I am sorry I cut you, brother."  Loki kept his eyes fixed on the floor between them.  Thor laughed and Loki looked up.

"It is alright, brother!  Look!  'Tis all mended!"  Thor pulled his sleeve away from his shoulder and displayed the slightly reddened skin where Loki's knife had sliced through.  Loki thought back to when he had cut himself in weapons practice.  His forearm had been cut nearly to the bone and it had taken two weeks to mend fully even with a healing stone.  Loki scowled at the floor.  It was just one more thing his brother did better than him.

"Thor, are you certain you are alright?"  Frigga verified, concern etched into every word.  Thor grinned gleefully and and nodded.

"Yes, of course, mother!"  Thor looked back to Loki, still grinning.  "Come, brother!  Fandral and Volstagg and Sif want to play Valkyrie.  You and Sif get to be the villains!"  Thor turned and ran off.

"Somebody ought to tell him that all the Valkyrie are women."  Frigga muttered.  Loki looked up at her.

"I always have to be the bad guy."  He whined.  Frigga regarded him with amusement.

"That is not true.  Just yesterday you were both Valkyrie and poor Idraal was the monster.  You should have heard him trying to explain to your father how his head guard came by such injuries."  She nudged Loki forward down the corridor.  "Hurry along, now.  Your brother may be many things, but patient is not one of them."

Loki trudged down the hall towards the shrieks and cries of the other children.  He did not want to play the role they had assigned without his consent.  If there was one thing Loki never wanted to be, it was a villain.


	2. Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and Sif have a falling out. Thor and Loki have a showdown.

Loki was sitting in the largest armchair in the second library.  His legs were hanging over one of the arms and he was lounging low against the other one.  The chair dwarfed him.  He had grown tall, but he was skinny.  Too skinny.  When standing beside his brother, he looked like a twig.  Something Thor could easily reach over and snap with one of his meaty hands.

The monstrous bookshelves were thickly packed with books which insulated the room and kept the noisy bustle of the palace out of the walls of this room.  He was reading about the history of Asgardian magic.  For such an interesting topic, this chapter was boring him.

The author was suggesting that the entirety of the universe was created through ancient magics.  Six magical items to be specific that the author referred to as ‘Infinity Stones’.  Objects with enormous power individually and unimaginably great power when combined.  He flipped through the chapter.  That someone had managed to write thirty pages on such a dull subject was baffling to Loki.

“ _The Mind Stone has the ability to control the thoughts and motions of any individual that touches it._ ”  So what?  Loki’s illusions toyed with peoples’ minds without some silly rock.  Loki scoffed and flipped to a more interesting chapter.

The library door swung open and Loki looked up from the pages to see Sif strolling in.  She looked up and around the large room as though she had never been in it before as she may well not have.  The low afternoon light was streaming in through the floor to ceiling windows and made her black hair shimmer.  A private sort of magic Loki thought might be reserved for her.

She had only grown more beautiful in the past few years.  Though only thirteen and still considered a child, it hadn’t slipped the notice of any of the boys that she had started changing.  Maturing.

She looked over at him suddenly as though she had felt him staring at her.  She smiled brightly, her lips splitting her face and making her green eyes glimmer.  “Loki!”  She greeted merrily.  Loki nodded back at her, but remained in his seat.

“Lady Sif, to what do I owe the honor of your visit.”  She rolled her eyes at his use of her title.  She hated being called a lady.  She said that since she did not yet feel ladylike, she would still like to be called Sif.  But Loki enjoyed the exasperated expression on her face each time he used the title.  Even now, he fought back a grin.

She pressed her lips together and looked at him almost…shyly.  Loki’s tongue suddenly felt too big for his mouth.  He watched her reach up with her thin and delicate hands and brush a stray strand of hair behind her ear.  She cast her eyes about the room once more.

“I was…um…”  She blushed.  Loki’s heart quickened and he straightened himself on his chair, swinging his legs down and closing his book.  Sif took a deep breath and gave Loki a tepid smile.  “I was looking for your brother.”  She admitted.  Loki’s jaw clenched and he gave her a tight lipped smile in return.

“Last I saw, the oaf was brawling with the other two buffoons.”  Sif frowned at him.  Loki gritted his teeth and reopened his book, trying to find the page he left off on.  Sif hadn’t moved.  Loki peeked up at her from over his book.  He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to speak.

“You should be nicer to Thor, Loki.  As I know it, he has kept you out of all sorts of trouble.”  Loki couldn’t keep the scowl from his face.  Everyone always took Thor’s side.  Loki closed his book again and stood.

“You know, he’s never going to go for you, Sif.”  He announced.  He kept his tone as friendly as he could, but hostility was seeping in at the edges.  Sif blinked like a startled fawn.  “There are really only two things my brother cares about.  Strength and fighting.”  Loki was not certain why he was saying these things to her, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.  “You are soft. You aren’t a fighter, Sif.  You’re too delicate and meek to ever win my brother’s favor.  Why don’t you just give up?”  Sif swallowed and Loki could see tears forming in her eyes.  He wanted desperately to take his words back.  To beg her forgiveness.  He opened his mouth to apologize, but Sif spun on her heel and darted from the room.

Loki shut his eyes, but the wounded look on Sif’s beautiful face was burned into his brain.  As though he had pulled out a dagger and threw it into her heart.  He crumpled back into his chair and tried to ignore the all-consuming feeling of guilt gnawing at him.  He didn’t leave the library.  Couldn’t bear to face Sif or anybody else for that matter.  He read until his eyes were heavy and slept in the armchair.

He was awoken by the door slamming open.  He started in the chair and looked wide eyed at his brother seething with rage in the doorway.  His long, blonde hair was matted to his head with sweat.  His bulky muscles strained beneath his tanned skin and blue lightning crackled around his fingers.

“LOKI!”  He bellowed.  Loki jumped up from the chair and swallowed nervously.

“What?  What is it?  What happened?”  He asked, genuinely confused.  Thor stomped toward him and Loki dashed around the armchair to hide behind it.  “What did I do, brother?”  He cried.

“YOU TELL ME!  What did you say to Sif?”  He thundered.  Loki looked outside and saw the skies darkening dangerously.  Thor was angry enough to call a storm.  What had Sif told him?

“I didn’t say much, honest!  She came looking for you and I told her where you were.”  It was the truth.  Half of it, at least.  It wouldn’t satisfy Thor.  Not when he was so angry and thirsting for blood.

“If that is true, why was she fleeing the palace?” He growled.  “Why did she tell me she would not dine with us on this or any future nights nor would she return to the palace.”  Loki winced.

“Okay, okay,” Loki conceded.  “There may have been more to it than that.”  Thor stormed towards him menacingly.  Loki threw his hands up in surrender.  “ _BUT_!  But, if she did not tell you she probably had a good reason and telling you in her place would be a betrayal of her trust.”  He let his hands fall to the side and forced out a small chuckle.

“You will not tell me?”  Thor demanded.  Loki continued to step backwards away from him.  Thor continued advancing towards him.  Loki laughed again.

“Only because it would be a disservice to Lady Sif.”  Thor gripped the front of Loki’s tunic and pulled him forward to meet him.  Their faces were barely a breath apart.

“Then I will _beat_ it out of you.”  Loki’s pale face became impossible paler.  Thor’s sledgehammer of a fist struck him right between the eyes and pain exploded outwards from his nose.  He whimpered in pain and cursed himself for sounding so pathetic.  Thor’s fist rained down on him again and again until he released Loki’s tunic and he fell onto his back.  Loki groaned, but every time Thor’s fist struck him, the image of Sif’s wounded face appeared in his mind.  Thor grabbed Loki by the back of his tunic and the seat of his trousers and hurled him through the window.  Glass shattered around him and bit into his skin like a thousand tiny teeth.

 _I deserve this_.  Was Loki’s final thought before blacking out.

He awoke the second time to the taste of blood in his mouth.  He cracked his eyes open, but found they were too swollen to be of much use.  He decided to focus on his hearing instead.  The soft hum of his mother’s breathing alerted him to her presence.  He groaned in discomfort as he shifted in his bed.

“Don’t move, Loki.  You are not fit to be getting around.”  Loki groaned again, but found that the pain was just coming with his breathing.

“Mother?”  He asked.  He could hear the push of her needle through fabric.  She hummed again.

“Nobody will tell me just what the fight was about.”  She told him.  “No matter how many times I have asked.”

“I told you, Mother, we were only rough housing and it got out of hand.”  Loki withered into his blankets at the sound of his brother’s voice.  Frigga huffed.  She wasn’t buying it.  Loki was unsurprised.

“Is that true, Loki?”  She asked.  Loki groaned again and lifted his hand to his face.

“I thought I might test my mettle against Thor’s.  Clearly, I need to train more.”  He lied.  No matter how old he got of what it was for, Loki always felt especially guilty lying to Frigga.  She huffed again and set her needle down.

“Well, whatever the reason, I suggest you both get over yourselves and apologize to one another.  I will not have this riff raff in my home.”  She stood and walked from the room.

Several long, quiet moments passed before Loki realized he had been left alone with his attacker.  He had never confessed his conversation with Sif to Thor.  He had promised to beat him until he did so.  He moaned as he shifted in his bed.

“Be still, brother, I will not harm you.”  Thor declared in a bored voice.  Loki let out a breathy laugh and gestured to himself.

“I think you’ve already covered that, thanks.”  Thor snorted.  He stood and walked over to Loki’s bed.  Loki opened his swollen eye and saw Thor rest his hand on the bedpost beside his head.

“I am sorry, brother.  I know I fly off the handle sometimes, but I truly did not intend to put you in this position.”  Loki grinned and he felt scabs on his lips crack apart.  He tasted fresh blood.

“It’s alright.  I think I had it coming.”  Thor reached down and poked Loki in the eye.

“Look at that!  You’re healing up already!”  Loki reached up and touched his face.  The swelling had gone down and he could see more clearly.  Thor was smiling down at him.

“You’ll be wanting to go for round two, then, yeah?”  He joked.  Thor smiled and patted him softly on the shoulder.  For someone as musclebound as he was, Thor could be surprisingly gentle.

“Not quite.”  He sobered.  “You really ought to go apologize to Sif.  Whatever it was that you said- and you don’t need to tell me what it was- really hurt Sif’s feelings.”  Loki swallowed.  That was an awkward conversation waiting to happen.  But it did _need_ to happen.  He nodded.  “Good.”  Thor smiled.  “Then once you are mended we will go in search of her.”

“Maybe I should go alone.”  Thor patted his shoulder again.

“As you wish.  But know this.  If you screw up, you’ll be right back in this bed before you can say, ‘oops’.”  Thor smiled gleefully down at him.  Loki chuckled nervously in response.

It took four days for Loki to heal enough to get out of bed.  The minute he was well enough to walk, Thor was pushing him out the door and urging him toward Sif’s house.

Thankfully, she was already outside when he got there which meant he need not have an awkward conversation with her parents.  Loki thanked the gods for small mercies as he slowly approached.  Sif wasn’t wearing her usual dress.  Instead, she was coated in new armor.  She had shorn her hair so that it fell to just below her ears and held a thick, wooden sword in her hands.

“Good morning, Sif.”  He greeted as politely as he could.  Sif looked up from the training dummy she was dueling.  Loki pressed his lips together and climbed down from his horse.  Sif seemed to consider herself before nodding back.

“Good morning, your highness.”  She returned.  He cleared his throat.

“I see you’ve cut your hair.”  He started.  Sif narrowed her eyes at him.  She turned away and he watched her hand go up and toy with her newly shortened strands.  “It looks good.”  Sif faced him again.

“The long hair was getting in the way.”  Loki nodded.

“Ah.”  He said.  He stepped around her small training field.  “You’re training.”  He stated.  Sif nodded.  “To become stronger.”  Her jaw clenched.  “You know, the training fields at the palace are a lot nicer.  Private trainers and all that.”

“I do not want to go to the palace.”  Loki nodded.

“Yeah.  Heard about that.”  He scratched at a scab on his jaw, mindlessly.  “My brother gave me a face full after you stormed out.”  He laughed.  “Not that I didn’t deserve it.”  He turned to her and caught his hands behind his back.  “I didn’t mean those things I said, Sif.”  He confessed.

“I am not meek.”  She told him.  Loki licked his lips and nodded.

“You never have been.”  He confirmed.  Sif’s brows knit together in confusion.

“Then why would you say it?”  Loki chewed at the inside of his cheek.

“Because Thor gets everything.”  Sif still didn’t understand.  “I was having a sour moment and I suppose I took it out on you.  I am sorry.  It was unfair and unjustified.”  Sif smiled at him and leaned on her sword.

“I suppose that is what friends are for.”  Loki laughed.

“To get the brunt of one’s internalized anger?”  Sif joined him in laughing and shook her head.

“No!  To _be_ there for each other when they are having sour moments.  To support each other.”  Loki scratched his eyebrow and nodded.

“So we _are_ still friends, then?”  He confirmed.  Sif nodded and stuck out her hand.  He took it in his own and resisted a rogue impulse to kiss the back of it.

“Yes.  We are still friends.”  She agreed.

“And you’ll come to dinner at the palace tonight?”  Loki added.  Sif wrinkled her brow, the smile frozen on her face.

“Tonight?”  Loki nodded.

“If not, I’m not certain I will be eating dinner for a while.”  He cleared his throat and looked back at his horse.  “Thor will have my head if he does not think I have repaired the damage I have done.”  Sif laughed.

“I was wondering about the wounds.”  Loki nodded.

“He was _very_ not happy when you left.”  Sif blushed.  “Oh, please.  Don’t let it go to your head.”  Sf laughed and shoved Loki’s shoulder.  He feigned a great injury that made her laugh before he walked back to his horse and rode back to the palace.


	3. Mischievous Youths Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers prepare for an adventure.

Loki had never enjoyed taking baths.  The water was never cold enough.  The soaps and shampoos always smelled of flowers and grass.  You had to disrobe completely which seemed insane, tactically.  And at the same time, nobody wanted to spend time around someone who smelled like a bilge snipe’s backside.  So Loki sat chest deep in ice water in an ornate, claw foot tub in his bedchambers.

He was massaging shampoo into his hair when his bedroom door opened behind him.  Loki yelped in surprise and shoved his hands into the frigid waters to conceal himself.  Thor, oblivious to his brother’s predicament, continued into the room leaving the door wide open.  A stupid grin was on his brother’s scruffy face.

“Loki!”  He cried.  “You’ll never guess what father just told me!”  Loki glowered up at the bumbling giant.

“I DON’T _CARE_ WHAT FATHER SAID!  IF YOU DON’T MIND, I’M NAKED!”  He screamed back.  Thor stopped and looked at his brother for a second, huddled in the tub.  Slowly, he realized his mistake.  He nodded and turned back the way he came.  He grabbed the side of the heavy wooden door and slowly pushed it shut until the latch clicked into place.  Loki shut his eyes and tried his best to keep his composure as Thor turned back around, smiling once more.

“Trust me, brother, you will want to hear this.”  Thor continued unperturbed.  Loki, completely perturbed, looked around the tub frantically for the cup to rinse the shampoo from his head.

“What I _want_ is a bit of _privacy_.”  He grumbled.  Thor either didn’t hear him or was pretending he hadn’t.  He crossed the room to a chair by the window and lifted Loki’s dark green robe that was hanging off the back into his hands.  He toyed with the material in his fingers and looked out the window.  Loki too the opportunity to finish washing while his brother’s back was turned.

“So, I was speaking with father a few moments ago and he was talking about his next trip down to Midgard.  He said he had not checked up on them personally in a few centuries and he was overdue for a visit.”

Loki slapped his wet hands around the edges of the metal tub and debated standing up.  He could wait until his brother left, but the way Thor was rambling Loki figured he would be in the tub all night.  He bit his upper lip and shut his eyes, weighing his options.  He gave his head a little shake and sighed, pushing himself up out of the water.

“Robe.”  He demanded, cutting off his brother’s long winded tale and holding out his hand toward Thor.  Thor looked at his brother in startled confusion and a little annoyed at being interrupted.  He looked down at his hands and remembered the soft fabric he was still holding between his hands.  He took three great steps to cross the room from the window to the tub and passed the robe to Loki though not before taking stock of his brother.

“Have you _always_ been so small?”  Thor asked thoughtlessly.  Loki’s usually pale body turned a brilliant red hue.  Embarrassment, anger, and indignation brewed in his gut.

“It’s cold.”  He snapped.  Thor shrugged and frowned at him as he pulled the robe snuggly around his thin body and stepped from the tub.  Thor reached out and grabbed his elbow to steady him and Loki snatched his arm away.  Thor let his hand fall and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Maybe if you would spend a bit more time on the training field and a little less time reading all those books in the libraries you would bulk up and put a little more meat on your bones.”  Loki curled his hands into fists around the tie for his robe.  “Maybe you should eat more.”  He had no response.  He had completely and embarrassingly misunderstood where his brother was coming from.  He stalked across the room and dug through his wardrobe to avoid facing Thor.

The silence the fell between them was only making the situation more embarrassing.  For Loki, at least.  Thor was ignorant to any of the awkwardness that had fallen between them.  “Go on, brother, you were saying that father is going to Midgard?”  Loki pulled out a pair of emerald green trousers and slid them on beneath his robe.  Thor didn’t say anything, but Loki could hear him moving around behind him.

Loki found a tunic and pulled his robe off.  He turned back to his brother as he was pulling the tunic over his wet head.  He noted the enormous, shit eating grin on his brother’s face.  He was bouncing in place.  His large body was filled with so much energy he was trying to get it out any way he could.  Loki set his fingers to the fastenings on his tunic and waited for Thor to spit out what he wanted to say.

“It is not _just_ father that is going to Midgard, brother!”  Thor all but squealed.  Loki’s brows drew together.  The glee leaking from Thor’s body told him all he needed.  His mouth formed a small ‘o’ as the revelation dawned on him.

“You mean _we_ get to go, too?”  Thor nodded emphatically and Loki could feel some of Thor’s energy trickling in.  If he weren’t so stoic, he might be bouncing up and down right along with him.

“We leave at first light!”  Thor confirmed.  Loki let out a small, breathy laugh in disbelief.  Odin had told them constantly that neither one of them was ready for the worlds outside Asgard.  The few times he had caught them trying to convince Heimdall to open the Bifrost for them had resulted in severe scolding and on more than one occasion, punishment.

“We’re leaving Asgard?”  Loki said.  Thor made an odd, high pitched sound and nodded.

“We’re leaving Asgard!”  He parroted.  Loki laughed and Thor joined him.

“We’re going to Midgard!”  He grabbed Thor’s forearm excitedly.  Thor grabbed Loki’s upper arms in hands large enough to wrap around them completely.

“We’re going to Midgard!”  Thor agreed.  Loki’s smile drooped.  Thor’s followed.

“What’s in Midgard?”  Loki asked.  Thor thought for a second.

“I’m…not sure.”  Loki chewed on the inside of cheek thoughtfully.  “Shouldn’t your books have informed you about the other realms?”  He asked accusatorily.  Loki scoffed.

“Maybe you should broaden your own horizons, brother, before you insult my own.”  He retorted.  Thor rolled his eyes.

“I read.”  He argued.  Loki raised his brows and looked at him curiously.  Thor frowned and looked down at the floor.  He scraped his foot against the floor.  “…a bit.”  Loki picked up a comb from his vanity and ran it through his wet, inky black hair.

“Alright, brother.  Let’s go.”  He said when he had finished.  He walked towards the door.

“What?”  Loki pulled the door open and Thor followed him out into the hall, brightly lit with a thousand torches.  “Where are we going?”  Loki rolled his eyes and refused to answer.  They walked for almost ten minutes until they reached their destination.  Thor looked around.  “The library?” 

“Yes, brother, the library.”  He walked to the bookshelf against the far wall where the legends of the nine realms were kept.  He selected one from Midgard and tossed it across the room to Thor who caught it easily by the spine.  He turned it over and read the title.

“You are going to make me read the night before we go through the Bifrost for the first time?”  Loki selected another volume on Midgard from the shelves and found his usual chair.  The library was dark despite the torches, making it difficult to read.  Loki passed his hand back and forth through the air and summoned two glowing white, floating orbs of light.  Thor flinched away from the sudden brightness and rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

“Do you not want to impress father with your understanding of Midgardian cultures?  This could open the door for more trips to the other realms, you know.  Maybe even unsupervised outings.”  Thor considered his brother’s words and conceded.

“Very well, Loki, I will read this on one condition.”  Loki looked up from his book.

“What condition?”  Thor used the book to point at him.

“I get the big chair.”  Loki’s face fell.  A part of him wanted to deny Thor, but he knew Thor could easily pick him up by the scruff of his neck and toss him out of the chair as easily as Loki had tossed him the book.  He let out a dramatic huff and stood.  Thor grinned and trotted over to claim his prize.

“You think there are any Midgardians that can wield thunder and lightning?”  Thor asked opening his book to the first page while Loki settled himself uncomfortably in a smaller chair nearer the window.

“I suspect if there are, we will soon find out.”  Loki replied.  He opened his own book and began reading.  The library was quiet for a few minutes except for their breathing.  Loki’s was quiet and comfortable.  Thor’s was loud and heavy and… distracting. 

Loki looked up and watched his big brother.  Thor was trailed his finger across the page, marking each word he read.  Loki looked down at his own book.  He was almost twenty pages into his and Thor seemed to be working his way through his fourth.  Loki took great pleasure and pride in this realization.  Thor was better than him in many things, but reading and magic were his alone. 

The pride twisted into the sour feeling of guilt.  Loki fell short of Thor in several areas.  A fact that was proven day in and day out in training.  No matter how badly Loki lost in a sparring match or how angry and frustrated Loki became, Thor never ridiculed him.  No.  Thor always held out his hand and pulled Loki back up with a tip or some piece of advice on how to improve and here he was, mocking his brother’s shortcomings.  Loki scowled at himself.

“You seem tired, brother.  If you wish to retire for the evening, I can read the rest here and fill you in in the morning.”  He offered.  Thor looked up in surprise and over to Loki.  He was still for a moment.  Thor’s eyes glanced down at Loki’s progress and back to his own.  It might have been the magelight, but Loki thought he might have seen a flush rise to Thor’s cheeks.

“I am quite well, brother.  I prefer to stay and press on.”  Loki opened his mouth to insist and save his dear brother the obvious hassle, but Thor turned away from him and returned to his book.

Loki lifted the side of his hand to his mouth and toyed with his thumb and pinky as he considered his older brother.  Perfect in so many ways seemingly without any effort on his part.  Loki was beginning to understand that Thor put effort into everything he did.  The difference was that he tried desperately not to let it show.  Everyone demanded much from him.  Too much.  And Loki was no innocent party in this.  For perhaps the first time in his life, Loki felt sympathy for the plight of his older brother.  It would seem that life wasn’t always easy at the top.

They read until the skies outside began to lighten.  They stood wordlessly in unison and started for the main hall to meet their father.  Odin looked his sons up and down and frowned distastefully.

“Did neither one of you bother to sleep last night?”  He demanded.  Thor and Loki exchanged a look and began laughing.  Odin groaned and rolled his eyes.  “Absolutely useless…”  He muttered under his breath as he mounted his enormous, eight legged steed.  Loki pulled himself onto the saddle of his midnight black mount and looked over to see Thor already comfortably settled on his white horse and grinning at his brother.

“To Midgard!”  He cried.  Loki found himself smiling back.

“Midgard!”  He agreed and they raced down the rainbow bridge together after their father.


	4. Mischievous Youths Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odin, Thor, and Loki arrive in Midgard and encounter no small amount of trouble.

Heimdall was waiting for them when they arrived.  The two princes of Asgard wondered if he ever slept.  Heimdall smiled at them knowingly and Thor and Loki panicked thinking that he could perhaps read their minds.  Odin walked around the center of the Bifrost and looked out into the infinite galaxies.

Loki looked over at his brother and noticed Thor’s hands fisted in his deep red cape.  He stared straight ahead, but Loki was relieved at the notion that his burly brother was just as nervous as he was.  Heimdall held an enormous, great sword in his hands.

“I am sure Heimdall has some advice for you boys considering your first trip through the Bifrost.”  Odin told them.  Heimdall nodded.

“Indeed I do, my king.”  Loki glanced out at the dark space as black as his hair and dotted with a hundred billion points of light.  “Perhaps the most important thing for you both to understand is that it is extremely important that you try to remain as still as you can until your feet hit solid ground again.  If you fall out of the stream, it is unlikely that you will ever come back.”  Odin chuckled at the warning.

“’Unlikely?’  Try impossible.”  He laughed.  Thor and Loki’s hearts were hammering loudly in their chests. 

“Yes, my king.”  Heimdall agreed.  “Secondly, it is not uncommon for Asgardians to feel sick upon their first journey.  Try not to get sick until you land.”  Loki’s upper lip curled back in disgust as the prospect.”  Heimdall turned to the center console and drove his great sword into the opening.  “That is all.”  Odin nodded.

“Be warned.  The Midgardians are a primitive people.  They may react poorly to our arrival.  Do your best to keep level heads.”  Loki looked over at Thor who gritted his teeth.  His knuckles had turned white from how tightly he was clenching his fists.  Before Loki could give him any words of comfort, the room shifted and the swirling colors of the Bifrost displayed themselves. 

Loki couldn’t decide if he was falling or floating or flying.  Whichever it was, he was moving quickly.  The colors whipped around him so fast he was beginning to feel dizzy.  Despite the feeling of falling, Loki felt a sense of familiarity.  The floating/flying/falling feeling while unnerving, was like a distant memory.  Perhaps all Asgardians were born knowing the path through the Bifrost.  The thought gave Loki comfort and the dizziness spun away from him almost as quickly as it had come.

His feet hit the ground and he knew immediately that he was no longer in Asgard.  Instead of the solid floor of the Bifrost, he stood on mushy dirt.  If the beam hadn’t leveled a circle around them, they would all be standing waist deep in grass.  Loki lifted his foot up and examined his shoe now caked heavily in black mud.  He groaned in revulsion and looked over to see how his brother was faring.

Thor, for all his brutish attitudes, was doubled over vomiting into the mud.  Loki stepped away from him.  He already had enough mud on his shoes to build a new island, he didn’t want to add his brother’s regurgitated dinner to the mix.  Thor stood and used the edge of his cape to wipe his mouth.  Thor turned and gave his brother a hard stare.  Loki threw up his hands and gave a little shake of his head.  A silent conversation.

_Tell_ anyone _and you will pay._

_Wouldn’t dream of it._

Odin brushed a piece of grass from his shoulder and started for the grass.  Thor and Loki trailed after uncertainly.  The Allfather seemed to know exactly where he was going and how to get there.

Loki took the time to examine his new surroundings as the plodded through the marsh.  The atmosphere on Midgard was entirely different from Asgard.  Where Asgard was constantly abuzz with chatter and magic and mechanical whirring, Midgard was completely silent.  The chirping of insects sounded every few minutes, but otherwise the sounds of their feet sloshing through the mud were the only sounds.

“Stop!”  A man shouted.  Loki drew his daggers and Thor pulled a short sword from its sheath on his hip.  Odin held his hand out to stop them.  The man was outfitted with flimsy armor and an even flimsier sword.  Loki cast his eyes around them and realized they had let themselves get surrounded.  Thor noticed the same thing, but Odin didn’t seem to be bothered by this in the slightest.

“Peace, friend.”  Odin said, holding his hand out to the man who shouted.  “We mean you no harm.”  The man looked around at his friends and back to Odin with a scoff.

“You mean _us_ no harm?  Look around, old man.  You are vastly outnumbered.”  Loki raised his brows and looked to Odin for his mark.  Odin smiled placidly at the tiny warrior.

“Allow us passage and I will forget your remarks.  You know not with whom you quarrel.”  Thor tightened his grip on his sword hilt and Loki shifted his stance a fraction of an inch to keep a steady eye on the soldiers behind them.

“You will not belittle us!”  The warrior retorted.  He let out a battle shriek and the men charged them all at once.  Thor turned gracefully and arched his sword out to cut down three warriors in one blow.  Loki ducked under the swing of one warrior’s axe and slipped one of his daggers between the man’s ribs.  He let out an unearthly groan and collapsed.  Loki glanced over to check on his brother.

Thor had never smiled so wide.  This was the first time he had seen true battle and was finally able to let loose in a way he never could in training.  He swung his sword and speared a warrior through the stomach and in the same moment, he grabbed another warrior around the neck with his free hand and slammed him into the ground.  Above him, thunder boomed and lightning struck the ground only a few feet from where they stood.  Smaller lightning chased itself around his straining forearms, baffling the warriors.

Odin, for all his talk of peace, was taking down the warriors with ease and almost as much joy as Thor.  Movement behind his father caught Loki’s eye and he started to shout out for him when another warrior came for him.  Loki passed an illusion of himself off a few inches from where he stood to make the man stumbled as his blade struck air where he expected a body.  Loki used the misstep against him and jabbed his dagger into the man’s throat.

He looked up just in time to see the man behind Odin strike him on the back of the head with a mace.  Odin blinked and gave a shake of his head.  He turned around and growled at the bold warrior who looked horrified that Odin was still standing.  Odin used his scepter to sweep the man’s legs out from under him and lay him flat on his back.  Loki saw another brave soul trying to sneak up behind Odin and quickly flipped one of his daggers through the air and struck him down.  Odin glanced at the fallen warrior behind him and scowled in irritation.

“ENOUGH!”  He shouted and slammed the hilt of his scepter against the ground.  A large shockwave erupted from it and threw everybody onto their backs.  Loki flew back and landed on a large stone.  It didn’t feel good, but he wasn’t hurt.  Until he saw who was flying back in the same direction.  His eyes widened and he struggled to gather his feet under him to move, but he was too slow.  Thor’s massive body slammed into his and crushed him against the stone.

Thor groaned and lay on top of him for several moments while Loki struggled for air beneath him.  He worked his arm out from where it was pinned against his chest and managed to slap Thor on his chest to get his attention.  Thor looked down at the flailing limb in utter confusion.  His eyes went wide and he scrambled up to his feet.  Loki gulped air into his starved lungs as he knelt on his hands and knees in the muck.

“LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS!”  Odin boomed at the warriors slowly clambering to their feet.  They all exchanged surprised and terrified looks before dropping their weapons where they stood.  Odin relaxed his shoulders and studied the men.  “Who here is in command?”  He demanded.  They looked between one another.

“You have slain our commander.”  One explained cautiously.  He pointed at the man who had shouted at them before.  His dark eyes stared emptily at the stormy skies above.  Odin frowned and narrowed his eyes at the warrior.

“You have no one to answer to?”  He demanded.

“We have our king.”  Odin’s brow wrinkled.

“King?”  He repeated.  “What king?”  The warrior gulped and pointed into the distance behind him.

“He resides in the castle yonder.”  Odin shut his eyes and shook his head as though disappointed.

“Very well, take me to your king.”  The warriors looked at each other, but could see no other option.  The paraded across the vast field and into a small village.  Hundreds of skinny peasants stood in the streets to watch them march by.  Loki looked down into the pitiful and dirty faces.  He watched a little boy stumble on an uneven path and drop the small piece of bread he was nibbling on.  It rolled away before he could catch it and was crushed until the worn boot of a man watching the procession.

The little boy’s eyes filled with tears and he dropped to his knees in the dirt and pulled the smashed bread off the ground.  He looked at it reluctantly and looked around before eating the disgusting food anyway.  Loki grimaced and looked away.  He couldn’t imagine ever being so hungry and so desperate.  The Midgardians truly were primitive.

“Brother,” Thor loudly whispered beside him.  “Look at what passes as their palace.”  Loki followed his brother’s gaze up at the grisly grey building they were heading into.  It appeared to have been made from rocks stacked together and held together with clay.  Loki and Thor shared an incredulous look.

“We are a long ways from home, brother.”  Loki agreed.  Odin gave them both a stern look over his shoulder and they both sealed their lips and stood up straighter.

A man stepped forward and slammed a wooden staff on the cobblestone and cleared his throat.  “King Harald Fairhair, Son of Halfdan the Black and King of Norway.”  He shouted.  Loki squinted at him.  Did they truly have no better methods of making announcements?

“I am Odin, son of Bor, All-Father of the Gods, God of War and Wisdom, and King of Asgard.”  The Midgardians appeared to doubt his words.  “These are my sons,” he continued, “Thor, god of the skies and thunder and Loki, god of mischief and chaos.”  Thor smiled at them and gave a small wave, Loki looked over at his brother and wondered how he could be so relaxed.  Did he not realize they were completely surrounded in enemy territory?  Loki looked back at the mortal king on his chair.  And it was a chair.  To call it a throne would be a disservice to true thrones.

“You claim to be a god?”  King Harald questioned.

“It is no mere ‘claim’, Harald.  Although I am not opposed for another demonstration if that is what you require.”  Odin told him.  He held his scepter, Gungnir out from his body and an inch above the ground.  One of the soldiers from the field scurried forward.

“He speaks truth, your majesty!”  The soldier cried.  King Harald frowned at the man.

“Nonsense.”  He waved the man off and returned his attention to Odin.  “Gods do not take leisurely strolls through open fields.  They fly.  Can you fly?”  Loki rolled his eyes and, suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

Every Midgardian’s eyes bulged out of their heads as they watched Odin, Thor, and Loki begin to levitate above them and glow with golden light.  Loki couldn’t help but laugh at their stunned expressions.  Odin turned to Loki with a deep frown.  Thor didn’t seem to fully understand what was happening.

“Loki….”  Odin growled.  Loki’s goofy grin fell and he waved away his illusion.  Thor, Loki, and Odin had not left the ground and were standing precisely where they were three seconds before.  King Harald blinked in shock as his eyes and mind fought on what it was they were seeing.

Thor turned and looked over at Loki and grinned.  “Was that your magic?”  He asked in his loud whisper.  Loki smirked and gave a tight nod.  Thor held his hand out and Loki high-fived his brother on pure instinct.  Odin cleared his throat and the brothers looked down sheepishly, though still grinning at the joke.

“I apologize for my rude behavior.”  King Harald stammered.  “What is it that I can help you with, King…er…God…er…Odin?”  Odin crossed his hands behind his back.

“All-Father will suit nicely, I think.”  He offered.  “I am interested to know the state of the world since I was last here.  It has been a few centuries since I’ve checked on you mortals.”  Odin set his scepter on the ground and leaned on it.  King Harald looked to the man on his left, presumably his advisor.  “For instance,” Odin continued, “when I was here last, there were no kings.”

“Yes, well, there is much to tell you.  Please step inside where we can speak undisturbed.”  King Harald stood from his chair and walked into the stone building.  Odin turned to regard his sons.  They were huddled together, whispering excitedly.  Odin frowned at them and shook his head.

“You two will stay here and try not to get into any more trouble.”  Odin commanded.

“We don’t get to sit in with you?”  Loki argued.  Odin gave him a hard look.

“After that little stunt you just pulled, you are lucky I don’t send you straight home.”  Loki winced and looked away.  Thor patted him comfortingly on the shoulder.

“Very well, father, we shall do as you bid.”  Thor agreed.  Odin strode into the castle without another look at his sons.  Thor looked down at Loki.  “I thought it was a great trick.”  He told him.  Loki looked up to see Thor smiling gently at him.  He smiled back.

“That was nothing to be honest.”  Loki told his brother.  Thor grinned.

“Practicing with Mother has come to use then!”  He declared.  Loki laughed.

“Mother is no weak creature.”  Thor laughed, too.

“Of this there is no doubt.”  Loki spied movement along one of the walls and turned to see the dirty child with the bread from earlier.  He was crawling around in the bushes.  Loki drew his brows together and tilted his head.  Thor followed his brother’s gaze and looked between the boy and Loki.

“A friend of yours?”  Thor joked.  Loki frowned at his brother and started towards the child.  “Loki!”  Thor hissed.  “We aren’t supposed to get into trouble.”

“I’m just going to talk to him.  I’m not starting trouble.”  Loki threw back over his shoulder.

“Oh.  Father is not going to like this.”  Thor muttered before running after his brother.


	5. Mischievous Youths Pt 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers meet with consequences.

The marketplace was on fire.  Hell, half the kingdom was on fire.  Smoke rose up in lazy tendrils into the sky as screams and shouts for help echoed through the streets.  In the middle of it all were Thor and Loki.  They each looked battered and disheveled and completely ungodlike.  Thor’s red cape was in tatters and the edges were singed from the fire.  His face and arms were smeared with mud and blood.  Loki was covered head to foot in mud and soot.  His face was almost dark enough to match his hair.

Odin stood beside King Harald and his king’s guard who looked both furious and deeply uncomfortable standing in the fray.  Odin was glaring at his sons equally.  Loki stared at his feet.  His nice boots were a lost cause.  He would have to dispose of them the moment he returned to Asgard.  They were covered in mud and soot and blood.  Thor stared at his hands where moments before, lightning crackled and drew a powerful bolt from the sky that slammed the ground so hard the earth shook.  Something shiny was in the muck beside Loki’s foot and he toed at it until it flipped over and displayed itself as a King’s Guard emblem.

“Two hours.”  Odin said finally and with stress on each word.  Loki looked up at him from beneath his black brows.  His blue eyes stood out stark against the grime on his face.  Thor ducked his head lower and clenched his fists.  “I left you two alone for two hours and you organized a coup, revolutionized the children, and laid waste to half the kingdom.”  His voice grew louder as he spoke until he was screaming and his voice echoed above the dying shrieks of civilians still caught in the wreckage.

“I only intended to help the children feed themselves.”  Loki started to explain.  Odin’s rage focused on him.

“That was not your job.”  Odin growled.

“Father, they were starving!”  He argued.

“AND NOW THEY ARE DEAD!”  Odin roared.  Loki winced and fell back.  Odin turned to Thor.  “And you, Thor?”  Thor looked up at his father with a start.  “What have you to say for yourself?”  Loki looked over at his brother who swallowed tightly and tucked his fists against his thighs.

“I only meant to stop the fighting.  The lightning came and I couldn’t control it.  It exploded everywhere and I couldn’t stop it.”  Loki realized then that his brother’s fear went deeper than a worry over a particularly harsh punishment.  He was afraid of himself.  Of a power inside of him that he could not control.  It was a fear that Loki understood acutely.  Loki had never felt a closer kinship to his brother than in that moment.

“And why did you not endeavor to stop this mess before it happened?  Surely you were keeping an eye on your younger brother.  You can handle _that_ much responsibility, can’t you?”  Thor glanced at Loki for the first time since Odin stormed out of the palace.  Loki gave him a weak smile he meant as a small apology.  Thor swallowed again and looked back to Odin.

“Because Loki was right.  The children were starving and they did need help.  Maybe not like this, but we could not leave them in misery.”  Everyone seemed taken aback by Thor’s answer. Loki had been fully expecting Thor to throw him under the carriage.  In fact, nobody had expected Thor to side with his brother.  Odin took a moment to consider.

“We are leaving.  I will be better equipped to deal with you back on Asgard.”  Odin growled.  He turned to King Harald.  “I will return.”  He promised.  King Harald had no idea how to react.  He was clearly still upset that his kingdom was still on fire.  His people were still trying to overthrow his police force and he had nobody else to blame.  Odin saw all this and sighed.  He held his arms out wide and slammed his staff on a dirty cobblestone once.  A monstrous gust of wind whipped through the city and blew out the flames.  He gave a small nod to the stunned king and shouted, “Heimdall!”

The Bifrost opened in a tight circle around them.  The last thing they heard before being whipped through the Bifrost were open gasps of incredulity.

Thor managed to hold on to the contents of his stomach as their feet hit the solid gold floor.  Loki coughed out a gust of smoke that had come with them and looked at Heimdall who was trying his absolute best not to appear amused by their condition.  Someone gasped and before they could determine who had made the sound, Frigga had both her sons enveloped in a tight embrace.

She released them and stepped back.  Her pale pink gown was now smeared with mud, soot, and blood.  She wore a looked of relief at the sight of them regardless of their disheveled appearance.  She soured and slapped them both on the arm forcefully enough to make both of them wince.  They rubbed their bruised arms sheepishly.

“What in the world were you thinking?”  She demanded.  Loki opened his mouth to answer her, stopped, thought better of it, and closed his mouth.  Frigga didn’t wait for an answer.  She rounded on Odin.  “I _told_ you they were too young to leave Asgard.  They are still too immature to handle the rules and responsibilities of visiting the other realms.  Especially Midgard where they remain blissfully unaware of the rest of Yggdrasil.  But did you listen to me?  No.  And now look where we are.”

“Frigga-”

“No.  I am far too angry to listen to you right now.”  She turned back to her sons.  “Both of you look terrible.  Go now and wash up before dinner.”  Thor and Loki looked at each other and them at Odin who put a hand to his brow and waved them off.

“Look at that, brother, two baths in as many days.  You might just make a respectable gentleman yet.”  Thor joked.

“Just stay out of my room this time.”  Loki grumbled.  There were no horses waiting for them so they had to walk the long bridge home.  It was a special sort of punishment of its own, but Thor didn’t seem to mind it at all.

“You are too sensitive, brother.  It is not as though we have never bathed together before.”  Loki gritted his teeth.

“That was when we were _children_ and could not reasonably bathe ourselves.”  He retorted.  Thor laughed and patted his brother’s shoulder.

“I will admit, it relieves me to see you with a modesty about something.”  Loki was thankful for the soot so Thor could not see how deeply he blushed.  They walked in silence for a time as they each reflected on their trip.  Loki cleared his throat and searched for the right words.

“I am…grateful to you, brother.”  Thor looked over at him.  Loki stared at the bridge and watched the colors change.

“Grateful to me?”  Thor parroted.  Loki saw the bridge’s end coming nearer.

“You could have blamed me, you know.  It was my fault anyway.  I didn’t even try to stop the fighting.  You jumped into action.”

“I started a fire that nearly took out the whole kingdom and killed hundreds of innocent people.  I am no less culpable than you.”  Loki considered his brother.

“Really, though, if we are playing the blame game, then it was the fault of the man that killed the boy with that brick.”  Thor narrowed his eyes at his brother.  Loki shrugged. “You became angered at the vicious slaughter of the child.  That’s when the lightning came.”  Thor turned his eyes back to the path ahead.

“If it is my temper that burns whole villages to the ground then there will soon be no more villages in all of Yggdrasil.”  Loki laughed.

“Father might just lock you up if you are not more careful.”  Thor sobered.

“You suppose he will?”   Loki saw genuine panic in his eyes.  Thor was terrified.  Loki smiled and patted his brother’s shoulder.

“Of course he wouldn’t.”  Loki laughed again.  “What would he do without his favorite son?”  Thor smiled placidly at Loki.

“Father doesn’t have favorites.”  Loki rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you say, brother.”

The second they stepped off the bridge, they became the city’s main attraction.  Asgardians everywhere stopped to gawk at the battered princes.  They whispered about where they had gone, what they had done, and why they were covered in filth.  Loki cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner as he wove an illusion around his brother and himself.  Suddenly, they were as clean and shiny as two princes of Asgard ought to be.  Though this, of course, did not lessen the gossip, it did divert it.  Instead of questioning their misadventures, they marveled at how diplomatic they must be to have come back from one of the Nine Realms looking as fresh as meadow flowers though they did not smell like them.  A magic Loki was still practicing.

Thor disappeared from his side.  Loki stopped and turned about quickly searching for him.  Loki rolled his eyes as he found him crouched beside a cage holding a large, black and green snake.  The stall attendant came around to greet the intrigued prince and Loki made his way over to the stall.

“Like him?”  The stall attendant asked.  He was an elderly man with a gnarly, grey beard and thick, white eyebrows.  “I found him out near the springs just this morning.”  Thor’s eyes were wide with interest.

“He’s gorgeous.”  Thor agreed.

“If you think father is going to let you get a pet now, you are truly mad.”  Loki pronounced.  Thor gave him a sour look.

“I am only looking.”  Thor argued.  Loki cocked an eyebrow at him.  “Go away.”  Loki rolled his eyes again and turned for the palace.  It was harder for him to hold illusions on things the further away they were and Loki considered dropping his illusion on Thor.  He decided against it, choosing instead to make good use of the practice.

He was pleasantly surprised to discover that his illusion alerted him to when Thor entered the palace.  Loki tensed up when he felt Thor walking towards his room waiting for the door to fling open.  He scrubbed the soaps from his body and the shampoo from his hair quickly.  He only relaxed when the door remained shut and he felt Thor moving further down the hall to his own bedroom.  Loki finished washing and only released his illusion when he was securely in his breeches. 

He finished dressing and made his way down the hall to Thor’s room.  He raised his fist to knock on the heavy door when he heard the muffled sounds of his brother shouting in pain and the sounds of something slapping against metal.  _He brought that stupid snake home and now it’s gone and killed him_!  Loki cursed Thor’s trusting nature and barreled into the room with his daggers drawn and ready to fight the snake.  What he found was his brother completely naked suspending himself above the water with all four limbs on the edge of the tub.  Loki sheathed his daggers.  Thor looked ridiculously like a cat escaping a bath.  He couldn’t help himself.  Loki started laughing and then he started crying from laughing so much.

“What are you doing?”  He gasped between chortles.  Thor was blushing and the rare sight had Loki doubling over all over again.

“Get out!”  Thor cried.  Loki couldn’t stop laughing.  Tears were streaming down his cheeks.  He held his hands against his pinching sides.  “Loki!”  Thor reached one hand out and grabbed a bar of soap that he chucked at his brother, hitting him right on the crown of his head.  Loki sobered.  He picked up the bar of soap and hurled it right back at Thor in retaliation.  Thor’s instincts worked against him as he threw his arms up to catch the soap and dumped himself into the water.  Loki roared with laughter all over again.  The second Thor’s body hit the water, he shot up like a cannon.  The water splashed everywhere.  Loki looked down to see a cube of ice sliding across the floor towards his foot.  He looked back at his brother standing knee deep in ice water and couldn’t resist himself.

“Have you _always_ been so small, brother?”  Loki arched his brow and smirked at Thor.  He stared back at Loki not understanding for a full three seconds.  Thor looked down, blushed, covered himself with his hands, and glared at Loki.

“I’m cold.”  He muttered.  Loki fell over himself laughing.

“Why are you taking an ice bath, idiot?”  He demanded.  Thor was quiet for a long time.

“It’s…good for muscles.”  Loki could tell he was lying, he just didn’t know why.  “The cold water stiffens them and makes the muscles rock hard.”  Loki pulled his bottom lip between his teeth.

“Not all of them.”  He said after a moment.  Thor reached down and grabbed a bottle of shampoo and chucked it at Loki.  He was expecting it this time and neatly dodged it.  The glass bottle shattered against the door as it opened.  Both boys stopped dead when Odin stepped into the room.  He took in the scene and frowned at Loki.

“Perhaps your time would be better spent learning diplomacy or negotiations as opposed to rough housing with your brother.”  Odin scolded.  Loki frowned at his hands.  Odin turned to Thor.  “Get dressed.  There is something I would like to show you.”  Thor stumbled out of the tub and hurriedly dressed.  “Your mother would like to see you, Loki.  She is in the flower garden.”  Odin told him dismissively.  Thor gave Loki a sympathetic look as he shrugged his shirt on.  Loki spun on his heel and marched out the door.

“Hello, mother.”  He greeted a few minutes later in the gardens.  Frigga had changed her dress and stood basking in the cascading light surrounded by the garden flowers.  She exuded magic.

“Loki,” she returned happily.  She beckoned him closer.  “Heimdall reported your antics to me at the Bifrost, but I would like to know your version.”   Loki frowned.

“I doubt I could tell you much more than Heimdall already has.”  Frigga smiled softly at him and lifted her hand up toward his temple.

“Oh, my sweet Loki.  Of course you can.”  She touched him then and he felt her magic slide into his mind.  The events of the day were displayed as though they were watching a play of the events.  He watched the repeated memories.  The starving boy eating the muck covered bread, Loki encouraging the starving youths to unite, the mutiny, the fighting, the starving children dying beneath the mighty hands of men, the boy with the bread being crushed to death beneath that rock, and the blinding white light of Thor’s lightning that was everywhere at once and so powerful it knocked Loki off his feet.

It all lasted mere seconds, but for Loki it was hours. Frigga dropped her hand to Loki’s cheek and brushed a fallen tear from it.  He hadn’t even realized he was crying. His vision cleared and he noticed that Frigga was crying as well.  She staggered and Loki caught her in his arms.  He helped her to one of the many ornate garden benches to rest.

“I am sorry about the boy.  He had sweet eyes.  Much like yours.”  Loki swallowed around the lump in his throat and nodded.

Deep in the palace near the weapons vault, a bolt of lightning touched down.  A shockwave of thunder rolled throughout all of Asgard.  Loki stared across the sky to where the bolt was.

“Oh, he’s done it.”  Frigga murmured with a mixture of emotions.  The most prominent one, Loki noted, was pride.  Before he could ask who had done what, a handmaiden appeared.  Loki and Frigga looked up at her.

“Dinner is served, ma’am.”  She announced.  Frigga nodded and Loki stood to help her to her feet.

The private dining hall was set for four.  Loki couldn’t remember the last time they had eaten a meal without Fandral, Volstagg, or Sif in company.  Loki had to admit to a bit of relief that Volstagg would not be joining them.  He tended to eat more than his share and left little for the rest.

Odin and Thor entered the dining hall laughing.  Odin’s arms were around Thor and Loki had never seen him smile so merrily.  Thor was holding something in his hand, but Frigga hurried over to hug him before Loki could see what it was.

“Loki!”  Thor called excitedly as soon as Frigga released him.  He held up a hammer engraved with a triquetra proudly.  Loki recognized it as Mjolnir.  A storm of jealousy swirled in Loki’s gut and he tried desperately to tamp it down.

“Are you building a house?”  He teased.  Thor grinned and flipped it in his hand.

“Pretty cool, huh?”  Loki licked his lips and nodded.

“Really cool.”  Loki agreed.  Thor looked over at his brother.

“Here, check it out!”  He offered Loki.  Without hesitating, he tossed the hammer towards Loki who reached out a hand to catch it.

“NO!”  Frigga and Odin cried out simultaneously.  Thor and Loki both turned to their parents.  Loki took his eye off the hammer for an instant.  It crunched against his ribs and then it was gone.  He heard it hum with magic and energy even as the floor rose up to meet him and thelight disappeared.

_Stupid magic hammer_. 


	6. Overcast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's resentment towards Thor builds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING : HEAVY SIFKI CHAPTER. IF YOU DON'T SHIP IT SKIP IT.

The banquet hall was filled to the brim.  They were celebrating.  The Hundred Days’ Battle had concluded on Vanaheim with an Asgardian victory.  Invaders were beaten back and peace was restored.  So they celebrated.  Wine and mead flowed as freely as water and everyone was laughing and regaling tales of bravery in battle.

Incidentally, the Hundred Days’ Battle was Thor’s hundredth battle.  His hundredth victory as well.  He had never lost.  It made him cocky.  Arrogant.  He was no longer the lumbering giant, unsure of himself.  He strutted through all of Asgard like a rooster in a hen house.  Cocksure and battle savvy.  Nothing scared him.  Mjolnir had given him control over his powers and he now wielded them expertly. 

Loki was quickly finding himself falling further and further behind his big brother.  Thor’s shadow was immense.  Loki found he could lose himself in it for days.  Odin barely glanced his way.  Why would he?  Not when he had the brilliant glow of his favorite son to admire. 

Not that Thor paid it any mind.  Loki had proven himself to Thor at least.  That he could hold himself in battle.  That he could be of use to his brother.  His methods were more subtle, but they did not go unnoticed by Thor, Sif, Volstagg, or Fandral.  He had managed to hold himself up to their standards if not his father’s.

Loki did not love battle in the same way Thor did.  Thor loved flexing his muscle.  Showing his power.  Fighting.  The sport.  Battle invigorated Loki in a different way.  He felt energized by the flood of panic and terror and anger rife within the fray.  His magic reacted to it, too.  He could use more powerful spells, his illusions were stronger and easier to wield, and he could do more with less effort.  He knew what it was.  He was the God of Mischief and Chaos.  He was feeding on the chaos of war.  Feeding on the death and misery of others.  Loki couldn’t think about it for too long or he would fall down the rabbit hole that was his self-hatred.  After all, what sort of monster loves the suffering of others?

Thor sat at the head banquet table beside Loki.  Volstagg, Fandral, and Sif occupied seats around them and a new friend, Hogan, sat with them.  Hogan proved himself invaluable during the battle on his home realm of Vanaheim and Thor invited him to Asgard for the feast.  Of course he couldn’t refuse.  Not the crown prince’s request.  Not that he would.  Hogan was inspired by the god of thunder and Fandral and Volstagg had become great friends of his during the siege.  They began calling themselves the Warriors Three.

Loki was quiet listening to soldiers recanting their stories.  Nobody ever asked for his story, not that he would be inclined to share.  There was always a chance he would forget himself and let slip a detail that suggested the extent of his madness.  The monster he worked so hard to keep hidden.

“Alright, then.  You all recall when Loki and I were caught in that tunnel in the cave.  Twenty enemies blocked our path outside.  Loki had caught a blade in his side and was bleeding, though it was not too bad.  He would not be of much help formulating a plan so it was down to me.”  Thor was telling.  Loki rolled his eyes and groaned.  Every tale of bravery Thor told always cast Loki in the worst light giving him the appearance of a pathetic foot soldier who wouldn’t have survived his first minute of battle without the assistance of his perfect brother.  “I call it, ‘Get Help’.”  Loki stood and started around the table.  “Brother?  Where are you going?  I was just getting started.”  Loki lifted a glass of wine off a passing table with one hand and waved Thor away.

“Oh, I don’t need to hear it again, brother.  I was there.  Remember?”  Loki answered.  Thor frowned at him as he left, but continued his tale.

Loki found himself standing awkwardly in the corridor outside the banquet hall.  The doors were held open with a clear view of the head table so Loki leaned against the wall beside them to avoid being seen.  He did not want to wait for Thor to thoughtlessly humiliate him in front of everyone so he could be ridiculed and laughed at.  He also could not continue down the corridor towards his bedroom without facing the disapproving look on Odin’s stern face.

Odin was speaking with a palace guard at the end of the hallway.  Loki couldn’t hear what they were saying, but saw Odin’s hands moving emphatically.  He heard the room at his back erupt with laughter and gritted his teeth.  He chewed at his cheek and considered his next move.

After a few minutes, somebody emerged from the banquet hall.  Loki’s whole body went rigid when he caught sight of the long, black hair tightly pulled back in a series of intricate braids.  The silver and blue armor glinted orange and red in the torchlight and was unmistakable, not that Loki needed it.  Sif turned around and a smile of relief spread over her face as she spied him.

“Loki.”  She said.  Loki wished to every god he could think of that he could get well over this unrequited boyhood crush once and for all.  He had spent far too many hours pining for something he could never have.

“Lady Sif.”  He returned.  His voice was casual and he congratulated himself inwardly at his impeccable composure. 

He stared at her face.  Her soft, flawless skin was seemingly untouched from all the battle it had experienced.  No scars marred her beauty.  She was quiet and Loki noted a glimmer of pain in her eyes.  She was looking away from him.  “Is there something the matter, Sif?”  He asked carefully.  He didn’t think she heard him.  She was looking beyond his shoulder, through the open doorway and into the banquet hall.  Loki followed her gaze to where he had left his brother.  Thor hadn’t moved, but his lap was now filled with two stunning ladies.  He was petting the back of one of them and whispering something in the ear of the other that made her giggle.

“You were right, you know.”  Sif announced, pulling Loki’s attention back into the corridor.  He frowned at her in confusion.

“What?”  Sif fingered the hilt of her sword attached to her hip mindlessly.  Loki’s eyes went back and forth from her hand to her face.

“All those years ago in the library.  Do you remember?”  Loki nodded.  How could he forget?

“We were just kids.”  Loki disputed.  Sif shook her head.

“And even at that age, you saw what I refused to see.  You told me Thor would never return my feelings.”  Loki frowned and tried to think of the right thing to say that would soothe the pain she was feeling.  Pain Loki knew all too well.  “I did not want to admit it then.  I was young and stupid and hopeful.”  Loki reached out and stilled her fidgeting hand on her hilt.  Sif looked up at him with teary eyes.

“You are not and have never been stupid, Sif. You are brilliant and kind and strong and beautiful-” Sif was shaking her head and Loki tucked a finger under her chin to keep her head still. “No, you are.  You _are_.  It important that you know this, Sif.  And if my idiot brother has convinced you any differently then he does not deserve you.”  He felt her swallow beneath his finger.  “He does _not_ deserve you.”  Loki repeated more quietly.  Sif had stopped crying and Loki smiled proudly.  He had evidently found the right words.

His grin caught when he saw a flush rise in Sif’s pale cheeks.  She had not blushed in ages.  Not since her first battle.  Her first kill.  It was hard to be embarrassed about much after you survive a battlefield.  Saw the edge of life and death itself.  Stood at it and looked over.  The flush cast a spell on Loki.  Sent a buzzing into his brain that drowned out all coherent thought.

It was an impulse.  Loki’s hand squeezed Sif’s on the hilt.  He bent his head to hers and, amazingly, she tilted her head up to meet him.  He had imagined kissing her in a million different ways a million different nights and none of them could compare to this night.  While the whole of Asgard sat feasting at his back.  Could not compare to the otherworldly feeling of her soft, soft lips on his.  She hummed softly against his mouth and then pulled away quickly and suddenly.  Loki released her and stepped back.  He searched her face.  Her eyes blinked rapidly.  She chewed her bottom lip and stared at the stone floor between them.  He looked into her eyes and read regret.  He clenched his fists at his sides and bit his lower lip hard enough to make it bleed.

“Apologies, Lady Sif.  I do not know what came over me.”  Sif touched her lips softly and shook her head.  She took a deep breath and started to speak, but Loki could sense what was coming.  The nonverbal rejection was so clear and stingingly painful he could not bear to hear to words fall from the lips he had just kissed.  Not now.  Loki did not think he could handle any more pain or embarrassment today.  He turned on his heel and strode quickly away.

He wasn’t certain how long Odin had been there or when he had left, but he hoped desperately that he hadn’t witnessed the most embarrassing moment in Loki’s life.  He would have gone to his bedroom, but he knew that sleep would evade him for hours still.  He passed by his door and walked into the second library instead.  It held his favorite chair and was nestled midway between his and Thor’s bedrooms for convenient access.  It had become his favorite place to be in the palace.  There was enough room for him to practice his magic and plenty of books to occupy his mind.  It was also one of the few places his brother and father seldom visited.

Loki cast an illusion.  A video replay of the events from moments before.  He watched it over and over and over for hours.  Outside, he heard the booming laughter of his brother and the high pitched giggles of the two ladies that accompanied him.  Loki waved away his illusion and picked up a book.  He had just started reading when the door opened.

Loki’s book thumped onto the plush carpet and he stood up quickly.  Sif’s hair was down.  It rippled over her bare shoulders and hung down to her elbows.  She had rid herself of the bulky armor and replaced it with a pale green gown cinched at the waist with an emerald encrusted gold belt. There was barely a trace of the fierce warrior from the battlefield present only hours before.  Sif stood in the library in front of Loki looking entirely like a lady.

“Lady Sif.”  Loki uttered.  He bowed his head at her respectfully.  He could feel his pulse in his neck.  She moved toward him.  She took her time.  Each step was precise and fluid like steps in a dance.  Her long, flowing skirts swept the stone floor and clung to her legs.  She stopped a few inches from Loki.  Close enough that he could feel her breath on his face.  Smell the perfume on her.

“My prince.”  Sif returned quietly.  Loki’s mouth had gone completely dry.  If he hadn’t known better, he might have thought she was trying to seduce him.  It was an impossible thought.  He tried to banish the hope.  The dream.

Sif settled her hand on Loki’s chest, waking him.  Loki shut his eyes.  There was no doubt that she could feel how hard his heart was hammering beneath his ribs.  Betraying him.  She pressed against his chest gentle, but firm.  She pushed him back into his armchair and followed him down.  Her knees pressed into the cushion on either side of his thighs.  She slid her hand up his chest slowly until her soft fingers touched the skin of his neck, scorching him.

“Sif?”  He rasped.  His voice had gone so hoarse he hardly recognized it.  Sif toyed with the ends of Loki’s hair at the nape of his neck.  It felt good.  Too good.

“Loki,” she breathed, “look at me.  Please?”  Loki did not want to open his eyes.  The second he did, the dream would disappear.  The illusion he crafted in his head and brought to life through accident.  “Please, Loki?”  Sif insisted.  And it was Sif asking, so he did.

Her green eyes were so close he could see the small flecks of honey brown in them.  He started to close his hands into fists and noticed they were settled on Sif’s hips.  She was embarrassingly close to finding out exactly how badly he wanted her.  He sifted further back in the chair in an effort to delay the humiliation.

“What are you doing, Sif?” Loki asked in his foreign voice.  He cleared his throat.  He didn’t think he wanted an answer.  Sif chewed her bottom lip and stared down at him.  He wondered what it was she saw when she looked at him.  She rested her palm against his cheek.

“In truth?”  Loki nodded against her hand.  “I am not certain.”  She ducked her head and pressed her lips against his.  Loki’s hands pinched her hips and pulled her closer.  She sighed and parted her lips.  Loki took the chance to slip his tongue between her lips and truly taste her.  His hands slid up her back.  The other hand found her waist and pressed her closer still.

He realized his mistake too late.  He felt the heat between her legs push against his erection.  It was his turn to pull away from their kiss.  Sif froze on his lap.  He wanted to push her off and pull her closer at the same time.  Loki cleared his throat again.

“Apologies.”  He rasped. Sif swallowed hard and resumed toying with his hair.  “Lady Sif, if we continue like this I fear I will do something indecent.”  Sif smiled at him.

“Do not call me that, Loki.”  Loki frowned at her.

“Lady Sif?  Why not?”  She smiled again and leaned down until her lips brushed his ear.

“Because I am not feeling particularly ladylike at the moment.”  She confessed.  She pressed herself down against his erection and Loki was lost.

Sif struggled to unclasp the ties on his tunic as she kissed him again.  Loki moved her hands away and finished the task quickly.  He shrugged it off and tossed it away.  Her hands were like fire touching his bare chest.  She pulled back and looked down at his body in surprise.  Loki watched her.

“What is it?”  He asked quietly.  Sif looked up at him and gave a small smile.

“I don’t know why, but I don’t think I realized how muscular you actually are.”  The corner of Loki’s mouth twitched in distaste.

“I suppose nobody would when they are always comparing me to my brother.”  Sif blushed and looked down between them.

“I didn’t mean to offend you.”  Loki reached up and covered one of her hands with his own and pressed it more firmly against him.  His other hand was tangled in her hair.

“It’s alright, Sif.  I know.”  Sif smiled and kissed him again.  She slid her hands away from his chest and into his hair.

“Loki,” she murmured between kisses, “touch me.”  Loki’s heart leapt into his throat.  His hands slipped around her thin, muscular body.  He unclipped her belt and it slid to the ground.  He moved his lips away from hers and kissed down her jaw to her neck.  Sif ground down against him.  Her fingers clenched in his hair, tugging gently.  He found her breast with his right hand and squeezed lightly.  The gentle tug was enough to cause the shoulder strap to slip off her shoulder and expose her.  She moaned as Loki’s thumb found her nipple and she pressed herself more firmly against him.  Her fingers found the stays on his breeches between them and Loki panicked.

He was worried he would spill over before he could do much else.  He needed to take control.  Sif didn’t seem opposed.  He tucked his hands under her butt and lifted her.  He moved them from the chair to the plush rug on the floor.  He settled himself over her and kissed her lightly before moving lower.  She cried out in pleasure when his lips closed over one of her nipples.  He slid her skirts up over her hip and found her cunt.

“Loki,” she whimpered.  Loki lifted his head to look at her.  His hands stilled on her body.  She pulled his head up to hers to kiss him again.  He pulled his hand from her cunt and pushed his pants down.  She had her legs hitched on his hips and was urging him closer.

“Sif, are you sure?”  He rested his forehead against hers.  Sif smiled up at him and brushed a fallen strand of his hair back.

“It’s alright.”  She prodded him forward and Loki pressed himself inside her.  She gasped and her eyes went wide with pain.  Loki stopped.

“Sif?”  She swallowed and shook her head.

“It’s alright.”  She promised.  Loki pulled out and slammed back in.  Sif gasped and her arms went around his shoulders.  Her nails dug deeper into his back with every thrust.  Loki buried his face in her neck.  She moaned in his ear and dragged her nails down his back.  The pain was good.  It kept him from thinking this was all some horrible dream.  It made it feel real and that made it feel so much better.

Loki shouted as he lost himself inside Sif.  Moments later Sif clenched around him and shook with her own release.  Her eyes fluttered shut.  Loki smiled down at her gently and then, with one word, the rug was pulled from under him.

“Thor.”  She breathed.  Loki felt the air disappear from his lungs and he shut his eyes.  Sif’s eyes snapped open as she realized what she had said.  “Loki.  I didn’t mean that.  I don’t know why I said that.  I’m sorry.”  It was too late.  It was all too late.

Loki stood and fixed his trousers.  He walked across the library and collected his tunic from where he had cast it aside.  He opened the door and started out still fastening the ties.  He bumped into the massive bicep of his brother who was also half naked.  Thor looked down at his brother in surprise and confusion.

“Loki?”  Thor looked beyond him and into the library.  To Sif.  She was straightening her gown and refastening her belt around her waist.  Thor looked back at Loki who met his brother’s eyes evenly.  Thor rubbed his mouth and pinched his jaw with his hand.

“Where are you off to at this hour, brother?”  Loki asked, conversationally.  As though this weren’t the man that had ruined what could have been the best moment of his life.  As though nothing had changed.

“Oh, uh,” Thor looked utterly lost.  “We ran out of wine.  I’m headed to the kitchens for more.  All the maids are asleep.”  Loki nodded.  He patted his brother’s bare arm.

“Well, have fun then, brother. I am off to bed.”  Loki moved around his brother and walked to his room with his head held high.  Behind him, he heard Thor talking to Sif.

“Lady Sif, you-”

“How are the twins, Thor?”

“The…what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, I already know it’s an act.”

“They aren’t twins.”

“Whatever.”

“Lady Sif, you sh-”

“It’s late, Thor, you can growl at me tomorrow.”  Loki shut himself in his room before Sif caught up with him and tried to explain away the past five minutes.  She stopped by his door and he held his breath, waiting for her to move on.  She did.  He went to bed.


	7. Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Young Thor and Loki train and spar.

“Keep your shield up.”  The instructor ordered.  The strike to his shield was forceful and unforgiving.  Loki struggled under the weight.  He pulled it down to see his opponent and look for an opening.

“Keep your shield up.”  The instructor barked again.  Loki growled and hefted the shield back up and swung his wooden sword around it blindly.  His opponent knocked the sword from his hand and landed another blow on his shield.  Loki rested his shield on the ground a crouched behind it to pick up his sword.  He stood back up and looked across to his opponent.

“Loki, keep your shield up!”  The shield was heavy, but Loki hefted it up to block the next strike.  It was a hard blow and the shield slipped back down before the second strike.  His opponent’s heavy wooden sword struck his cheek and sent him flying.  Loki gasped in pain and rolled to his side clutching his face.

“Oh no!”  Thor cried.  He dropped his sword and shield and ran over to his wounded brother.  He dropped to his knees and grabbed Loki’s shoulder.  “Sorry, brother!  Are you alright?”  Loki groaned and pulled his hand away from his face to show Thor.  Thor winced.

“Get to your feet.”  The instructor ordered mercilessly.  Loki looked down at his hands.  They were smeared with blood.

“He cannot.  He needs a healer.”  Thor argued.  He gripped Loki’s arm and pulled him to his feet.  “I am taking him to Mother.”  The instructor frowned down at the brothers.

“You are young yet, my prince, but you should note that compassion will win you no battles.  Your enemies will certainly show you none.”  Thor scowled at the instructor.

“This is not battle, this is training.  And Loki is no enemy, he is my brother.”  Loki’s head was spinning and he had to lean heavily on Thor to stay upright.  Thor set Loki down on a settee in one of the palace’s lounge rooms and went in search of Frigga.  Loki groaned in pain and leaned back against the armrest.

“Loki?”  Loki opened his eyes and straightened himself up quickly.

“Father.”  Odin looked down at Loki with a stern look.  Loki fixed an illusion over his bleeding face and stood.

“I was under the impression that you would still be training.”  Loki nodded.

“Yes, I was only resting for a moment.”  Odin frowned and shook his head.

“You will never learn if you do not take it seriously, Loki.  I am disappointed.  You should take your lead from Thor.  He trains diligently day in and day out.”  Loki gritted his teeth and stared at the floor.  “If you continue like this, you will never be prepared for battle.  To defend the Nine Realms as a prince of Asgard is meant to.”  Odin stared at Loki for a few moments longer, waiting for a response that wouldn’t come.  Loki had nothing to say.  Odin sighed and left.  Loki dropped his illusion as soon as Odin was no longer in the room and fell back onto the settee.  His head was bleeding profusely. 

“Oh, Loki!”  Frigga cooed.  He opened his eyes and looked up at his mother who was seated beside him.  Thor was chewing on his thumb worriedly, tears welling in his eyes.

“Is he going to die?”  Thor whimpered.  Frigga looked back at Thor while reaching into one of her pouches and gave him a reassuring smile.

“He’ll be fine, Thor.  We know it was an accident.”  Loki rubbed his eye where blood had trickled in.  Frigga took his hand in her own and pulled it away.  Loki focused on Thor.  His bottom lip was trembling and his wide eyes were focused on Loki’s wound.

“But there is so much blood.  I have never seen so much blood.”  Thor continued.  Frigga crushed a healing stone over Loki’s wound and muttered a spell under her breath.  The pain eased and the blood pulled away from his face and disappeared.  Thor’s small shoulders sagged in relief.

“There we are, Loki.  All better.”  Frigga smiled down at him and cupped his cheeks in her hands.  Loki smiled back at her as she pressed her forehead against his affectionately.  Loki covered her hands with his own small hands.  “Try to keep your shield up next time, yes?”  She suggested.  Loki frowned and nodded.  “Good.”  Frigga stood and, ruffling Thor’s short blonde hair, left the room.

“Are you alright now, brother?”  Thor asked warily.  Loki looked up at Thor and nodded slowly.  He was embarrassed.  Thor picked up fighting so effortlessly.  He could hoist a sword and shield as though they weighed nothing.  He moved with grace and struck with unmatched ferocity.  Loki struggled to keep his sword in his hand or use his shield properly.  “We should return to the training fields, then.”  He suggested.  Loki’s fingers curled into the cushion and he ground his teeth.  “Loki?”  Thor watched him for a few moments before sitting beside him on the settee.

“I am not a fighter, brother.”  Loki announced.  Thor was quiet for a few moments.

“You know Fandral, right?”  Thor asked.  Loki scrunched up his face incredulously and looked at his brother.

“What does he have to do with anything?”  Thor smiled and rolled his eyes.

“You’ve seen him fight, have you not?”  Loki nodded and Thor smiled again.

“He fights well.  Almost as well as you or Volstagg.”  Thor nodded.

“The first time I met Fandral in training, he was a lot like you.  He could not lift his shield and he was always dropping his sword.  I think he might have been more bruise than flesh after that day.”  Loki shook his head.

“Fandral does not use a shield.”  Loki argued.  “He uses both hands for his sword.”  Thor nodded.

“His swordplay has always been exquisite.  So Fandral figured out a way to use his sword as both a weapon and a defense.”  He agreed.  “But it took him quite a long time to figure that out.  He worked tirelessly for many months before he could hold his own in a sparring match.”  Loki knew where Thor was going with this.  “All I am trying to say is that perhaps you need to find a way to use your strengths to compensate for your weaknesses.”  Loki shrugged.

“I do not have any strengths.  My swordplay is merely adequate.”  Thor patted Loki’s shoulder.

“That is not true!  You have many strengths, brother!”  Loki looked up at his brother in surprise.  “You are quick when you are not over encumbered.  You can outrun even me!  And your magic is unmatched by any except Mother.  And you are smart.  Much smarter than me.  Even I can see that.”  Loki smiled at his brother.  “You are smarter than Fandral, too, though do not tell him I said that.  If he can figure out a way to fight without a shield, so can you.”  Thor stood.

“I do not think our instructor will approve of my forgoing my shield.” Thor shrugged. 

“Then do not tell him.”  Loki wrinkled his brow.  “Practice on your own time and then show him what you can do.” 

Loki practiced day and night for months.  He would turn himself into animals and objects and hold them for as long as he could.  He cast projections of himself and tried to incorporate them into his fighting.  The sword was too clunky for him.  The weight slowed him down and forced him to spend energy wielding it that might be better spent on his magic. 

Daggers were the only weapons light enough to hold without effort and easily concealable.  The only issue was that he would need to get close enough to his opponent to use them.  He trained in the forest and the meadow.  Practiced his magic in the spring under the waterfall.  Every night he would fall asleep the second his head hit the pillow.  Every morning, he would wake to find himself in his bed clothes and tucked into bed.

He hadn’t been to instructed training in months.  Odin scolded him about it every time he saw him.  Loki began avoiding his father.  He wanted his secret training to be a surprise.  He hoped his success would make Odin smile proudly at him the way he always smiled at Thor. 

Thor would occasionally follow Loki out to the mountains and they would race one another to the top.  When they reached it, they would leap off the edge of the waterfall and swim in the springs below.  Loki would cast spells and send illusions up to dazzle his brother.  Thor would hold himself under the water and see how long he could hold his breath for.  Loki became worried one night when he was under the water for more than four minutes.

When he could put it off no longer and was pleased with his progress, Loki returned to instructed training.  He was surprised to see that they had apparently replaced him with Fandral and Volstagg.  He cast his eyes around the arena and saw Sif sitting on one of the ledges in a short dress.  She smiled at him and waved.  Loki waved back.

“Prince Loki, I see you have decided to grace us with your presence today.”  The instructor announced sternly.  Loki nodded at him and took his place on the line beside Thor.  Thor grinned at him and raised his eyebrows.  Loki fought back a smile in return and waited for the instructor to pair them up.

“Thor and Fandral, come to the center.”  Thor lifted his practice sword.  This one was made of metal, but the edge was dulled by both smith and magic to prevent serious injury.  Fandral’s was the same.  The two child warriors met in the middle and gripped one another’s forearms.  They released each other and stepped back.  Each took a battle stance.  Fandral held his sword out across his body protectively, but in a way that would make it easy for him to swing out in an attack.  Thor held his sword firmly in one hand and hid behind his shield, only his eyes peeking out over the top.

Fandral waited for Thor to make the first move and he did not disappoint.  Thor launched himself forward and swung his sword a Fandral viciously.  Fandral parried and danced out of the way easily.  He stepped behind Thor and spun on his toes to strike at his back, but Thor’s shield was already there to meet his blade.  Thor used his shield to shove Fandral back.  Fandral was not expecting it and stumbled.  Thor raised his sword and hacked down at Fandral like he was swinging a club.  The force of the blow met with a sudden shock of lightning and Fandral’s sword snapped in half.

“I yield!”  Fandral cried, dropping the other half of his sword.  Thor stopped and stuck the end of his sword into the dirt.  With his newly freed hand, Thor reached down and helped Fandral to his feet.  Sif was applauding emphatically from her seat on the wall.

“Yay, Thor!”  She cried.  “Well struck!”

“Good, but Thor, we have already discussed this.  Your sword is not a mallet.  Your movements should be more elegant.  Though perhaps we should switch you to a mace.”  Thor nodded in understanding.

“I will do better.”  He promised the instructor.  Thor picked up his sword and stepped back to the line beside Loki.  “Stupid sword.”  He muttered so low only Loki could hear.  “It worked, didn’t it?”  Loki chuckled beside him and Thor smiled at the soft noise.

The instructor congratulated Fandral on his footwork and ability to quickly get behind his opponent.  Then he berated him on his failure to keep his balance and quickly return to his feet at the end.  Fandral nodded and stepped onto the line.  The instructor looked at his students and eyed Loki curiously.

“Volstagg.”  He barked.  Volstagg lumbered forward, his clean, chubby cheeks already bright red from the heat of the day and the strain of carrying his sword and shield.  “Loki.”  Loki stepped forward.  To the naked eye, Loki appeared unarmed.  The instructor frowned at him.  “Where are your sword and shield?”  Loki shrugged nonchalantly at the instructor.

He stepped forward and grabbed Volstagg’s forearm before the instructor could asked anything else or stop the match.  Volstagg frowned at Loki.  “You know it will still hurt when my sword hits you even with the blunted edges.”  Loki nodded and released Volstagg to step back.  He glanced over at Thor who grinned widely and gave him two thumbs up.

Loki took a deep, slow breath and crouched into a fighting stance.  Volstagg held his shield at his side and lifted his sword toward Loki.  Loki snapped his fingers and his daggers flew into his hands.  Everyone blinked in surprise and confusion.  Volstagg moved his shield up and eyed Loki warily.  When Volstagg didn’t move, Loki pulled his arm back and arched a dagger across the arena toward Volstagg.  Volstagg used his shield to brush the dagger away, but met with air.  His eyes went back to Loki who was no longer standing across from him.

Volstagg spun in a circle, searching for his opponent.  Both daggers were still in Loki’s fists and he was standing directly behind Volstagg.  He flipped one in the air and caught it again.  He used the hilt to strengthen his punch and struck Volstagg in the nose.  Volstagg’s head snapped back and his sword swept forward in the same moment.  Loki ducked and moved away, not that Volstagg knew.  He stared at the duplicate Loki and growled.

“I was goin’ easy on ya!”  He roared.  He swung his sword at the illusion and fell forward into the dirt when his sword met air instead of flesh.  Loki was on him in an instant.  His knee was in Volstagg’s back, a dagger pressed in beside it.  His other hand held the second dagger at his throat.

“So was I.”  Loki replied.  Volstagg shook beneath Loki though he didn’t know if it was from fear or rage.

“I yield.”  Volstagg spit.  Loki pulled his daggers away and stood up.  Loki reached down to offer his assistance, but Volstagg sneered his hand away and clambered to his feet on his own.  The arena was dead silent.  Loki looked up and around.  The instructor’s mouth hung open in stunned surprise.  Fandral and Sif echoed his expression.  Loki looked at his brother.  Thor was grinning from ear to ear.  He began to applaud Loki as Sif had done for him.  Sif and Fandral joined in.

“Well struck, brother!”  Thor cheered.  Loki blushed and grinned back.  Louder applause sounded behind him and Loki wheeled around and looked up at Odin.  Frigga was beside him and they had both joined the applause.  Frigga beamed down at him with pride.  Odin did not smile as Loki had hoped, but his eyes appeared softer than usual.

“Father!  Did you see what Loki did?”  Thor called.  Odin did not take his eyes off Loki.

“I did.”  He answered.  Thor was suddenly at Loki’s side flinging his arm around Loki’s small shoulders.

“Was it not incredible?”  Odin tucked his bottom lip in and gave a small nod.

“It was.  Quite incredible.”  Odin agreed.  Loki’s cheeks flushed and his heart raced faster than it had done in battle.  “Keep it up.”  Loki nodded and watched Odin walk away into the palace.

“That was amazing, brother!”  Thor continued.  “Even father was impressed!”  Thor hugged Loki tightly.  Too tightly. 

“Brother.”  Loki gasped.  Thor only squeezed him tighter.  Spots appeared in Loki’s vision and he panicked.  His dagger was still in his hand and he jabbed it into Thor’s side.  Thor shouted in pain and pulled away.  Loki stared down at his dagger, now covered in his brother’s blood.  Loki snapped his daggers away.

“Oops.”  He said.

Thor growled at him.  Loki’s heart was racing again for an entirely different reason.  “Loki.”  Thor snarled, a stress on each syllable.  Loki knew that tone.  He spun on his toes and took off as fast as he could away from the training field.


	8. Into the Light of Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor and Loki overcome some monsters.

It was late.  He lie smothered in the inky blackness of the moonless night.  He was trying to determine what it was that had woke him.  It hadn’t been a nightmare.  In fact, he had been having a really nice dream.  He was flying over Asgard, the golden spire glinting happily in the sunlight.  Fandral, Sif, Volstagg, and his brother were all applauding his success happily.  They cheered at his greatness and his father appeared to bequeath him the title of king.  Right when the crown was about to be placed on his head he woke up.

But what had woken him?  The wind sighed through the crack in his balcony doors and fluttered the heavy curtains pushing the warm, summer’s air onto his face.  He blinked his eyes and stared up at his canopy waiting for sleep to return to him.  His eyelids gradually became heavier and he started to fall back asleep.  A scream echoed down the hall and through his heavy wooden door.  He sat bolt upright and looked at his door.  The scream rang out again urging him to climb from bed and investigate.

The stone floor was cold against his bare feet.  His feet slapped noisily against the floor on his way to the door.  The screaming stopped briefly and he stood unsuredly in the hall.  His heart was pounding in his chest and wanted nothing more than to return to the warmth and safety of his bed and hunker down in his blankets.  He started to turn back and the screams started again.  He turned back and raced down the hall after the noise.  He stopped outside his brother’s room panting.

He looked down and saw an odd light shining from within.  He tilted his head and chewed his lip, silently debating his action.  A shadow crossed the door and his brother screamed again.  That was all he needed to grab the handle and throw the door open.  The second he entered, the shadowy figure disappeared.  His eyes went to the bed and found the small form of his brother shaking beneath the blankets despite the warm air.  He was still deeply asleep.

He walked carefully to the bed, keeping a watchful eye on the room around him in search of the shadow figure.  His brother whimpered, tears were wet on his cheeks.  He crawled up onto the plush mattress and over to his brother.  He smoothed the soft, black hair away from his brother’s face and looked back around the room.  The bed was surrounded by large, black shadows.  They had an eerie green glow around them.

“No….”  His brother whimpered beside him.  Thor hunkered down next to his brother and pulled him into his arms.  Loki whimpered and trembled.  Thor couldn’t stop a tremor of his own from shaking through his small body.  “Please.”  Loki whimpered again.  Thor squeezed his arms around Loki’s thin body and tried to steel himself.

“It’s alright, brother.”  Thor stammered.  Loki relaxed a bit at the sound of his brother’s reassuring voice.  The shadows flickered before Thor’s eyes and almost disappeared.  Loki cried out suddenly and the figures reappeared.  They were larger now and there seemed to be more of them.  He noted that the figures sort of resembled the Frost Giants of Jotenheim.  Thor took a deep, shaky breath and shoved his legs beneath the blankets with his brother.  Loki was crying more profusely now.

“No,” he whined, “no, no, no.  You can have me.  You can have me.”  Thor stared down at his sleeping brother in shock.  “Don’t touch him.  Please, please.  Leave my brother alone.  You can have me.”  Thor’s mouth hung open in shock.

“Loki,” Thor argued.  “They cannot have you.  I cannot defeat them alone, but we can do it together.  Don’t let them take you, brother.  We only stand a chance side by side so you must not leave me.”  Loki was shaking in Thor’s arms.  He turned suddenly and wrapped his arms around Thor and buried his tear stained face in his chest.

“Together.”  Loki mumbled against Thor’s nightshirt.  Thor patted Loki’s head with one hand and rubbed his back soothingly with the other.

“Together.”  He agreed.  Loki breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed into his brother’s embrace.  Thor watched in wonder as the Jotun shadows vanished in a shimmer of green.  He kept his eyes on the spot where the last of the Jotun shadows disappeared.  Thor didn’t know how long he lay there holding his brother before he fell asleep, but when the morning came the towering visage of the shadow Jotuns were burned into his head.

Thor groaned and scrubbed his hands down his face.  He blinked against the bright light of the sun and rolled over to find Loki staring down at him.  Thor propped his head up on his hand and smiled at his brother only to be met with a look of utter confusion.

“Why are you in my bed?”  Thor blinked up at him and sat up.  Loki watched him carefully.

“I…uh…I must have walked here in my sleep.”  Loki pulled back and wrinkled his nose at him.  Thor coughed and crawled out of the bed.  “Apologies, brother.”  He opened the door just as Loki’s handmaidens arrived to help him dress for the day.

“Oh!  Prince Thor!”  They exclaimed in surprise.  Thor looked up at them and thought they looked like startled fawns.  They were all big eyes and soft voices.  No female in all of Asgard seemed to be able to rise to the level of his mother.  Beautiful and impossibly strong.  Only she had been able to subdue his father.  Only she could handle his temper.  Thor smiled at the ladies anyway.  It was the polite and princely thing to do and he _was_ the crown prince.

“Good morning, ladies.”  He greeted them before darting around them and returning to his room.  His own handmaidens were standing confusedly in his rooms.  They started when he burst inside and breathed sighs of relief.

“Prince Thor, we were worried!”  Dagmar told him.  Thor stood near his wardrobe and waited for them to dress him.

“What would you like to wear today, Prince Thor?”  Unn asked sweetly.  Thor shrugged and stared out his balcony window at the Bifrost.

“It matters not, Lady Unn.”  She nodded and they selected an outfit from his wardrobe and began changing him.  His thoughts were elsewhere.

The shadow Jotuns were Loki’s conjurings, of that there was no doubt.  Thor was more interested in how Loki managed such immense magic while being completely asleep and totally unaware of it.  Thor had assumed that Loki would awake and have some idea of what had transpired in the night.

Thor kept a watchful eye on his brother throughout the day.  More than once, Loki had demanded to know why Thor insisted on hovering about him and Thor had to find some excuse to throw him off.  He wasn’t sure why he was keeping it a secret from Loki especially since it involved him, but Thor couldn’t bring himself to tell his brother.

Thor couldn’t sleep that night.  He lay in bed staring at the canopy overhead for five or ten minutes and then at the door for another five to ten.  He was waiting for his brother to shriek or scream signaling the return of the illusioned frost giants.  After an eternity of waiting, Thor fell asleep.

He awoke the next morning to the sun shining cheerfully through the windows.  His handmaidens pulled him from bed and began dressing him.  There was a strange feeling in his chest.  After mulling over it he concluded that the feeling was disappointment.  But disappointed in what?  That his brother had not had a nightmare?  That was foolish.  He should be relieved that his brother was not routinely terrorized by the visions in his mind.  So why was he disappointed?

After a little over a week, Thor returned to his usual sleep schedule.  He fell asleep quickly and easily and dreamt of all the things he would do when he was King of Asgard.  After another week, he forgot about the incident entirely.  He played with Loki and Volstagg and Fandral and Sif in the meadows.  Watched as Loki cast spells that made flowers fall around them in a beautiful flurry of colors.  Grinned at Sif who had received the brunt of the flowers and was covered head to toe in them making her look wild and beautiful.

That night Thor woke again in the middle of the night.  Something wasn’t quite right.  He blinked against the pitch black night and pulled himself up to sit against his pillows.  His heart sank into his stomach.  Loki’s Shadow Jotuns were surrounding his bed.  The subtle green glow around them was the only thing that made them stand out from the darkness of his room.

Thor looked from the Shadow Jotuns to the door.  He would have to be quick.  Loki’s illusions had never hurt him before, but these were manifestations of Loki’s subconscious.  They might be different from his usual spells.  Thor eased himself to the edge of the bed and the Shadow Jotuns watched him.  They had no eyes so he wasn’t sure how they watched him, but he knew they did.  Thor’s feet touched the stone floor and he bolted to the door.  He hauled it open as quickly as he could and darted down the hall to Loki’s room.  When he was midway down the hall, he turned back to look while still barreling forward at a full sprint.

The Shadow Jotuns were standing in his open doorway watching him run.  The sight sent chills down his spine.  Just then, his foot caught the edge of a rug and he was sent flying forward onto his face.  Thor groaned and picked himself up.  His face and forearms burned from the landing, but his desperation to make it to his brother’s room shoved the pain to the back of his mind.

Thor didn’t hesitate when he reached Loki’s bedroom.  He threw the door open and slammed it shut against the shadows.  He collapsed against it and looked over to the bed where Loki shouted in panic and sat upright at the loud noise.  Thor was panting noisily from the effort and fear so he couldn’t wheeze out an excuse to his brother.

“Thor?”  Loki’s soft voice called across the room.  Thor gathered his breath and stood, his legs still trembling.  “Are you sleep walking again?”  Confusion set in as it took a minute for him to remember the lie he had fed his brother all those weeks ago.  Thor rubbed his neck and feigned a yawn.

“It would seem so.”  He agreed.  Loki frowned at him.

“You are always so loud.”  His brother grumbled.  Thor walked to the bed and climbed onto the mattress.

“Sorry, brother.  I do try to be quiet.”  He kicked his feet under the blankets and nestled himself into the pillows beside Loki.  Loki stared down at him in confusion.

“What are you doing?”  Loki demanded.  Thor feigned another yawn and closed his eyes.

“Shh.”  He answered.  He couldn’t see him, but Thor knew Loki had crossed his arms and was frowning at him.  It made Thor smile despite his best efforts to suppress it.

“You have your own bed for a reason.”  Loki insisted.  Thor faked a loud snore.  “Why are you here?”  He continued.  Thor didn’t answer, pretending to sleep.  “Thor!  Go back to your own bed!” 

“Quiet, Loki, I am trying to sleep.”  Loki growled and pushed Thor’s arm with all his strength in an effort to knock him out of bed.  Thor sighed and wrapped his arms and legs around his brother’s body, trapping him.  Loki struggled against his brother’s constraining limbs for a few minutes before giving in to defeat and lying still and quiet.

Eventually, Thor felt Loki relax against him and his slow, even breath brushed against his neck.  Thor opened his eyes and looked around for the Shadow Jotuns.  They were nowhere to be found and, after a long while, Thor fell asleep.

It became a sporadic routine of sorts after that.  The Shadow Jotuns were either in Thor’s room or Loki’s, but the surest way to be rid of them, was to hold Loki while he slept.  It was always random when it happened.  Sometimes, Thor would sleep peacefully in his own bed for a full month before the screams or the shadows would wake him.  Sometimes he would find himself in Loki’s bed every night for a week. 

The sole constant, was that Thor never told Loki the true reason he might wake up to find his big brother holding him tightly.  Loki did not need to know about the monsters that visited him at night.  He already knew monsters were real.  The only thing Thor thought was important for Loki to know was that no matter how dark the night or how many shadows he faced, Thor would always be there to pull him out of the darkness and into the light of day.


	9. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor, Loki, and company work on rebuilding some of the destruction caused in one of their many battles. When boredom sets in, they find ways to amuse themselves.

“You do realize we do not need to personally attend every battle in the Nine Realms, right?”  Thor frowned over at his little brother disdainfully.  He should be honored to fight for the glory of Asgard and yet he was always whining endlessly about the chore of battle.  Thor pulled his helmet from his head and shook out his sweaty locks.  He knew he looked a sight.  There was blood splashed and smeared all over his body and up his arms and legs.  Sweat and dirt mingled with the blood and he smelled heavily of death.

“You were welcome to stay home, brother.”  Thor answered.  Loki rolled his eyes.  He was sitting on a green cushion beside Thor who sat in the dirt, leaned against a giant’s corpse.  Thor couldn’t decide if his brother’s spotless countenance was due to an illusion or if the sorcerer had actually managed to fight an entire battle without landing a spot of blood or dirt on himself. 

“As though there were a realm that exists in which I would willingly subject myself to being alone with father for any length of time to listen to him going on and on for days about how valiant and perfect you are.”  Loki picked at one of the shiny buckles on his boots with a frown.  “I would never hear the end of father’s lamenting on how he was cursed with only one perfect child.”  Thor rolled his eyes at his brother’s dramatics.

“And instead, you have chosen to plague me with your own lamentations.”  Loki grinned at Thor.

“Better you than me, brother.”  He laughed.  Thor sighed out a chuckle and shook his head.  He looked up across the battlefield and saw Volstagg eating something indistinguishable.  Behind him, Fandral was trying to hit on all the village’s maidens simultaneously.   He cast his eyes around the smoldering village in search of Sif.  It took him a minute to find her and his heart sank into his gut until he spied her assisting an elderly villager from a collapsed house.

An armored man strode over to assist her.  Thor watched as she smiled politely at him and shook her head.  She was dirty though not as dirty as Thor.  A streak of dark red blood slashed across her face from her left temple down to the right side of her neck.  He hoped it wasn’t a wound she had sustained.  The rest of her was covered in mud, even the ends of her dark hair was matted with muck and all the filth did nothing to stop her beauty.  Her eyes moved over and caught his as though she had sensed him looking at her from this distance.  Thor smiled at her and looked up at the blue sky and away from her.

Loki stood up beside him and wordlessly walked over to where Sif was.  Thor kept his head tilted up, but watched his brother.  From the distance he was, Thor could hear nothing of what was said.  Loki said something to Sif and the warrior and Sif laughed.  The warrior looked down at the dirt and shrugged.  Loki said something else and put his arm on Sif’s shoulder using her as an arm rest and staring at the warrior.  Sif hit Loki in the stomach playfully and said something to the warrior.  Loki shrugged and said something more that made Sif blush and suddenly all three pairs of eyes landed on Thor.  He turned his head to look back at them.  Sif and the warrior turned away, but Loki stared at Thor for a moment longer a peculiar smile on his face.

Sif turned back towards Loki and captured his attention again.  Loki smiled down at her and tapped her shoulder plate.  She looked down at it and back up at Loki who produced a handkerchief from thin air and handed it to her to wipe her face. 

The warrior lifted a large wooden beam from the pile of the crumbled house Sif had pulled the elderly villager from.  Thor guessed it was in an attempt to gain Sif’s affections.  He held it across his shoulders and winked at Sif.  He likely said something suggestive gaging by his expression and Sif’s reaction.  The beam shimmered with green and transformed into an enormous wriggling octopus.  Thor sighed and stood to walk over and abate the situation.  The octopus’s large orange tentacles flopped over his shoulder and wrapped around his waist.  The warrior shouted and struggled before untangling himself and throwing the octopus/beam away from him.  Loki’s illusion fell away as soon as the warrior dropped the beam.  Everyone within a ten feet radius turned to look at him.  Sif grabbed Loki’s shoulder and turned her face in towards him.  Her shoulders were shaking with laughter and her face was flushed and pink.  Loki had his hands on his hips and was speaking to the warrior whose face turned bright red before he stormed off.

“Did you see his face?”  Sif giggled.  Loki laughed.  Thor frowned at the two of them.

“How awful for such a fine warrior to survive the battlefield only to die of humiliation in the ceasefire.”  Loki mused.  Thor cleared his throat drawing their attention to him.

“Thor!  Did you see what Loki did to that pompous ass?”  Sif asked with a smile.  Thor looked over to Loki who smiled at him.

“If you two are going to slack off then why do you not return to Asgard?”  Thor asked.  “Celebrations and entertainments are typically reserved for when the work is done, yes?”  Sif blushed and ducked her head in a quick nod.  Loki frowned at his brother and crossed his arms.

“And what of you?  Were you not just sitting on your behind while everyone else worked?”  Thor glowered at Loki.

“I was merely taking a break.  I think I earned it after carrying you all for the entire battle.  I drove back our enemies almost entirely singlehandedly.”  Thor shot back.  Loki smirked and tilted his head in that smug way of his.  Thor thought the look said, _you are not as great as you think_ although that may have been Thor projecting.

“I will just…go help the villagers.”  Sif murmured before weaving her way around the brothers and making her way towards Fandral.

“Perfect Thor.”  Loki mocked.  “You need always have the final say in everything even if it does not include you.”  Thor wrinkled his face at his brother.

“Just... pick up some of the rubble.”  He ordered.  Loki saluted him with an overly serious expression.  He turned to the crumbled house and wove his hand in the air in front of it.  In the blink of an eye, the splintered wood and broken stones piled themselves neatly behind the foundation.  Thor scowled more at himself than at his smartass of a brother.

“Anything else, my king?”  Loki mocked.  Thor curled his hand into a fist.

“Yes, you could perhaps keep your mockery and mischief to a minimum.”  Loki did a small bounce and half curtsied and half bowed to Thor.  Thor rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Oh, look, brother!  What’s that?”  Loki pointed at the dirt behind Thor excitedly.  Thor turned to see a small, grey rabbit sitting in the dirt.  Thor tilted his head at it.

“Oh!”  Volstagg hollered.  “Tha’ will make a nice stew!”  He lumbered toward it and the rabbit bounced away from him and towards Thor.  Thor stooped down and picked the rabbit up in his arms.  It trembled in his grip so he pet it gently in efforts to soothe it.

“Volstagg, have you not had enough slaughter for today?”  Thor asked.  Volstagg stopped where he was and sighed.

“Aye,” he replied in a defeated tone.  Thor smiled at him.

“Worry not, friend, when we return to Asgard tonight we will gorge ourselves until our bellies are bursting.”  Volstagg smiled at the thought and nodded.

“Aye!”  He turned and hurried back toward Sif and Fandral.  Thor watched him go, paying no mind to the rabbit he pet absently.  He turned back to Loki who had suddenly disappeared.  Thor frowned at the spot where his brother had stood seconds before.  The rabbit moved in his hands and shifted until suddenly it was no longer a rabbit, but instead his brother.  Loki cackled and jabbed Thor in the side with one of his daggers.  Thor groaned, dropping Loki into the dirt.  Loki rolled away and stood up laughing. Thor stomped towards his brother quickly and grabbed Loki around the throat.

“I _said_ no playing!”  Thor growled.  Loki choked out a laugh under Thor’s fist and held his hands out palms up in surrender.

“I couldn’t help it.”  He wheezed.  “You were getting just _so_ full of yourself!”  Thor snarled inhumanly again and tossed Loki away with one hand.  He called Mjolnir to his hand and felt the sense of calm and ease return to him as his fingers curled around the comfortable familiarity of the leather bound handle.  Loki lay on his back laughing his golden horned helmet had gotten knocked off his head and rolled away.

“Why do you never take anything seriously, Loki?”  Thor demanded.  Loki sighed and sat up to look at his brother.

“Why do you take everything _too_ seriously, brother?”  Thor looked around.  The villagers and warriors had all stopped working and were watching the exchange intently.

“You mean to tell me those two are _brothers_?”  Thor heard a villager ask.  Loki glanced in the direction of the voice and quickly away.  His jaw clenched and he swallowed hard.

“Twin brothers apparently.”  The gossipers continued.

“Fraternal, obviously.”  Thor took a deep breath and let Mjolnir hang at his side.

“But the blonde one is the next in line for Asgard, right?”

“I certainly hope so.  I mean, the pale, skinny one doesn’t look like someone who’d be able to rule the Nine Realms.”  Loki growled and pushed himself to his feet.  Thor walked over and picked up his brother’s helmet.

“I am not perfect, Loki.”  Thor told him handing Loki his helmet.  Loki snatched the helmet from Thor’s hands and stormed off wordlessly.  Thor sighed and threw his head back and groaned at the clouds.  Loki was too sensitive.  He always had been.

Thor watched the orange clouds drift across the pale blue sky and wished the battle hadn’t finished so quickly.  He clenched his fist around Mjolnir.  Maybe it was his imagination or maybe he was projecting again, but he thought Mjolnir wanted to hit something just as much as he did.  With no enemies to be had, Thor settled for driving stakes into the ground as plotting points for rebuilding the village.

Three days were spent rebuilding the villages ruined by the invaders.  Thor thought he would go mad with boredom.  Manual labor was work for peasants not for a prince.  Fortunately, Sif and Loki were also laboring under the same stifling feeling.  The three of them wandered to a large clearing about half a mile from one of the villages.  Loki crossed his arms and frowned between Thor and Sif.

"Does this not go against your 'No fun until the work is done' policy?"  He pondered.  Thor frowned and shrugged.

"This counts as training...of sorts.  So it is not necessarily 'fun'."  He retorted.  Loki quirked an eyebrow at him and gave a wry laugh.  Loki pointed between himself and Sif.

“Who would you like to take on first, brother?”  He asked.  Thor smirked and rolled his shoulders giving Mjolnir a large, arching swing through the air.

“First?  I thought you wanted a fair fight.  You two against me.”  Thor paused and considered his friends.  “Actually, you may want to grab a few more fighters for a fair fight.”  Loki scowled and Sif rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“That arrogance is going to come back to haunt you one of these days.”  Loki grumbled.  He walked over to Sif and turned his back to Thor to whisper with her.  Thor busied himself with flipping Mjolnir in the air and catching her again.  He spun on his heels quickly and flung it towards the trees in the direction of the village.  His eyes widened and he called Mjolnir back to his hand just in time to prevent a peacetime casualty.  A small crowd was beginning to form at the edge of the clearing.

“Are you ready or what?”  Thor demanded, turning back to Sif and his brother.  Loki turned around to face him, rolling his eyes.

“Patience is a virtue, you great oaf.”  Loki snapped.  Thor shrugged indifferently.

“It has been some time since I have been accused of virtue.”  Thor swung Mjolnir back.  “’Tis too late for strategizing anyway.”  Thor heaved the hammer across the distance toward Loki who rolled away and dodged Sif’s sword strike in the same second.  Sif snarled and spun on the ball of her foot to strike at him again.  Loki threw a dagger at him and Thor managed to catch it by the hilt and chuck it back at his brother and sweeping Sif’s feet from beneath her.  She landed on her back with a huff and spun herself around and flipped back onto her feet in half a second.

Thor called Mjolnir and it was back in his hand in an instant.  He swung it down at Loki’s knees and dropped forward when he swung through air.  Thor growled and used the fumble to his advantage.  He spun Mjolnir by the strap of fabric and jumped, twisting his body in the air to avoid the swing of Sif’s hand and a half sword and landed a solid punch on Loki’s jaw while he was at it.  Loki’s head snapped back in pain and surprise and he moved away.  Mjolnir carried him through the movement with ease.  Sif lifted her sword over her head and charged him with a loud roar.  Thor threw Mjolnir at her and watch her body shimmer green and disappear.  He sighed and pulled Mjolnir back into his hand.  He turned around and found himself suddenly and completely surrounded by a thick, grey fog.  Sif struck the back of his knees with her magically dulled blade and he had to fight to keep his balance.  One of Loki’s daggers brushed his cheek and he felt blood well up from the cut.

Out of the fog, a fist came flying directly at his face, but he was too slow to stop it.  He knew it was Loki’s fist from where he struck.  The exact place Thor had struck him moments before.  Sif jabbed her small, pointy fists into the weakest points in his armor.  Loki threw another dagger at him and Sif kicked him squarely in his butt.  Thor growled in irritation and began spinning Mjolnir as though winding her up like a toy.  He felt the surge of electricity fill his body and pull down from the clouds overhead.  When he thought it was adequately charged, he swung up and slammed Mjolnir into the ground.  Loki and Sif cried out and the ground shook violently.  Lightning struck the clearing around him coming dangerously close to the civilian onlookers.  The fog cleared immediately.  It had all been Loki’s illusion in the first place.  It had apparently worked against them as Sif hadn’t been able to see where she was landing and was crumpled against a tree trunk.  Loki was lying on his back staring up at the blue skies overhead with an indistinguishable expression on his face.

Thor stormed over to Loki.  He gripped his brother’s tunic and pulled him up to meet him.  Thor held Mjolnir threateningly out in front of Loki’s face and gave him his best menacing look.  Loki ran his tongue over the inside of his lower lip, turned his head, and spit out a mouthful of blood.  Somehow, he had busted his lip open when he flew back.  Loki returned his eyes to his brother’s.

“I yield.”  He pronounced simply.  Thor smiled and released Loki’s tunic and held out his hand in exchange.  Loki sighed and accepted it.  Thor lifted Loki to his feet with ease and patted him on the back.

“A valiant effort, brother.”  Thor encouraged.  Loki rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Go check Sif.  I am going to find ice for my face.”  Loki stumbled away toward the village and Thor turned to Sif.  She was rubbing the back of her head and wincing.

“Alright, Lady Sif?”  Thor asked, offering his hand.  Sif looked up at him and nodded with a small grimace.  She slipped her hand into Thor’s and just as he began to pull her to her feet, she hooked her leg around Thor’s feet and sent him onto his back.  Mjolnir dropped from his hand and rolled away from him.  Sif put the knee of the same leg she had used to knock him off his feet to pin his right arm down by the elbow.  She held one of Loki’s daggers to his throat and grinned down at him.  Thor stared up at her in confusion for a few moments as he worked through what had just happened.  Finally, he shut his eyes and exhaled through his nose.

“I yield.”  He told her.  Sif’s cheeks flushed and her eyes brightened with excitement.  She climbed off of him and clapped her hands together.

“I won!”  She squealed.  “I beat the Thunder God!”  Thor sat up and put his hands over his face.

“You had better not tell my parents about his, Heimdall.”  Thor grumbled to the sky.

 


	10. Rough Housing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good ol' sibling squabbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short. This was just a sort of drabble idea I had in passing.

“I’m the Valkyrie because I’m older.”  Thor declared.  “And stronger.”  He added.  Loki stamped his foot and curled his hands into fists at his sides.  “Besides, I shall be king someday so you have to listen to what I say.”

“I DON’T WANT TO!”  Loki screamed at him.  Thor sighed at his little brother and held his wooden sword on his shoulder.

“Besides all that, you are loud like a Jotun.”  Loki shook with rage.

“HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT A JOTUN SOUNDS LIKE?  YOU’VE NEVER EVEN MET ONE!”  Thor stuck his fingers in his ears while Loki screamed.  Thor pulled his fingers from his ears.

“Have so.”  He proclaimed.  Loki stopped and looked at him suspiciously.

“Have not!”

“Have _so_.”  Thor insisted.  Loki crossed his arms over his chest.

“When?”  He demanded.  Thor grinned.

“I’m looking at one!”  He laughed.  Loki flew at Thor and managed to tackle him to the ground and making his wooden sword clatter to the ground.  Thor quickly managed to gain the upper hand.

“Take it back!”  Loki barked even from his vulnerable position.  Thor laughed.

“No way!”  He laughed again.  “I’m a Valkyrie and you are a Frost Giant.”  Loki growled and brought his knee up sharply into Thor’s gut.  Thor grunted and rolled off his brother who stood up.

“I don’t _want_ to be a stupid Frost Giant!  Why do you always get to be the Valkyrie?”  Thor stood up frowning.

“I already told you.  I’m older which means I’m the boss.  You have to listen to me.”  Loki stamped his foot again.

“You are _not_!”  Thor grinned.

“Would you like to fight for it?”  He challenged.  Loki swallowed and chewed on his cheek.

“I will not play a Frost Giant.”  He insisted.  Thor rolled his eyes.

“What if you are Laufey?”  Thor offered as though it was some great enticement.  Loki wrinkled his nose.  “C’mon, brother, Laufey is the king of the Jotuns so you would get to be powerful, too.”

“I don’t want to be stupid, evil Laufey and I don’t want to be a stupid, ugly Frost Giant.”  Thor sighed dramatically.

“Stupid and ugly, huh?  Well, if the shoe fits….”  Loki’s eyes widened with bewildered rage.  Thor grinned broadly, challenging him.

“TAKE THAT BACK!”  He screeched.  Thor laughed.

“I don’t think so!  I shall tell everybody to call you Loki the Frost Giant!  Loki the Jotun!”  He dodged Loki’s attack easily and continued as though nothing had happened.  “Loki Laufey’s Son!  Loki King of the Jotun’s!”  Thor continued laughing merrily.

“I’M NOT A FROST GIANT!”  Loki picked up his wooden sword from where it had lie on the floor discarded.  He swung it in huge, powerful arches at Thor who deflected each blow with increasing difficulty.  The speed at which Loki swung the sword increased until Thor was struggling to block the blows.  The whole time, Loki screamed over and over again, “I AM NOT A FROST GIANT!”  And then, Thor slipped and Loki’s wooden sword smacked against the side of Thor’s thick skull and he fell back onto the floor.  Loki, still raging, swung his sword over his head again and just before he brought it down on his brother, the sword was yanked up and away from his hands.  Both boys stopped and looked at their company.

“What is all this?”  Frigga demanded.  Loki’s mouth dried and he ducked his head.  “I could hear you clear across the palace.  I would be astounded if there were a person in Asgard that could not hear all your shouting.”  She looked beyond Loki to Thor who was still on the floor with his head bleeding.  “Oh, Thor!”  She cried before kneeling beside him and removing a healing stone from her pocket.  “Loki, you need to apologize to your brother.  Look at what you’ve done.”  Loki stared at his feet.

“Apologies, brother.”  Loki muttered.  Frigga gave him a stern look at he winced.

“What is all the fighting about?”  She asked.  Neither of the boys could look at her let alone answer her.  She would not settled for a lack of answer.  “One of you is going to answer my question or you will both stay in your rooms until supper.”

“He called me a Frost Giant.”  Loki confessed.

“Traitor.”  Thor hissed.  Frigga gave Thor a withering look and he fell silent.

“Go on, Loki,” she urged.  Loki looked at Thor’s mended face and swallowed.

“We were going to play Valkyries and Villains and Thor said he got to be the Valkyrie because he’s older and the boss of me and I told him I did not want to be a Frost Giant, but he insisted and then he started calling me Loki Laufeyson and King of the Jotuns and laughing at me.”  A strange look crossed Frigga’s face and hovered there for a long while.  She finally shook the expression from her face and regarded her children.

“I believe you two should find a new game to play.  Perhaps one without quite so much violence.  And stop all this Jotun talk, it is unsettling.”  Frigga stood and placed a kiss on the tops of each of the boys’ heads before gliding from the room as silently as she had come.

Thor and Loki stared at each other silently in the aftermath of their brawl.  Thor looked away through one of the windows and back to Loki.

“Want to race to the gardens?”  He asked.  Loki’s lip twitched with a smile.

“Last one there is a Bilge Snipe!”  He cried before sprinting away down the halls with Thor close on his heels.


	11. Tricks and Consequence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor repents for a wrong he committed and Loki plays a trick.

Thor pressed his back against the wall and carefully peeked around the corner and down the hall.  Two palace guards stood straight backed at the other end.  They hadn’t noticed him yet, so what he needed now was a distraction.  He wished he had more of a talent for magic like his mother and brother had.  An illusion would come in handy right about now.  Thor turned back to the hallway he had just come from and shouted in surprise.

“What are you doing?”  Loki asked.  He was standing incredibly close and Thor cursed himself for not having heard him approaching.  Thor growled, knowing that he had blown his cover with the guards.  He snatched Loki’s arm and dragged him down the hallway.

He turned, taking Loki with him, and continued down another hallway and then another and another until they were back at the same two palace guards, but at a hallway closer to them.  Loki had been unnaturally quiet at Thor dragged him through the palace.  If he weren’t so distracted, he might have found that unusual.

“Have we stopped?”  Loki asked.  Thor shot him a filthy look that told him to be quiet.  Loki smirked and narrowed his eyes mischievously.  “If we _have_ stopped then I am certain you wouldn’t mind releasing my wrist.”  Thor gritted his teeth and squeezed his brother’s wrist tightly before letting it go.  Loki grunted in pain and rubbed his wrist.  Loki leaned out around the corner to eye the guards himself.

Thor pushed his brother back behind him around the corner wordlessly.  Loki huffed out an irritated breath and crossed his arms over his chest.  Thor was going to have to trick Loki into distracting the guards.  He frowned in thought.

“If you could just tell me what our goal here is, I might be of some use to you, brother.”  Loki whined.  “Why do you need to get past the guards so badly?  Why is it important that they do not see you?  Where are you trying to sneak off to?”  Loki was quiet for a split second.  “Oh!”  He cried.  Thor ground his teeth and curled his hands into fists at his sides.   “You are still grounded for the dining hall incident!”

“Loki, by the Norns, will you _shut up_?”  Thor spit.  Loki snickered quietly behind him and Thor turned around ready to deck his brother right in the jaw.

“Where are we off to then, brother?”  Loki smiled at him.  Thor glared at Loki.

“ _We_ are not off to anywhere.  _I_ am going to meet Fandral and Volstagg in the meadows.”  Loki frowned and pulled back a bit.

“I thought you required my assistance?”

“Why would you think that?”  Loki lifted his wrist up and shrugged.

“Little hints.”  Thor growled at him.  Loki smirked again.

“I only did that so you would shut up.  Besides that, I knew you would follow me anyway.  I was killing two birds with a single stone.”  Loki frowned in distaste.  Thor cursed himself again.  He had meant to get Loki’s help, not to drive him away.  He just hated how superior his brother held himself when it came to things like this.  Flaunting his magic.

“Very well, brother.  I will leave you to your escape plans.”  Loki turned down the hall and walked away quickly.  Thor covered his face with his hands and groaned again.  Curse his stupid temper.  Curse his stupid brother.

It took him a while to get the guards distracted enough to slip past them unnoticed.  He threw all manner of projectile past them from wine cups to entire paintings he pulled off the walls.  What finally did it was the torch he pulled out of its sconce and chucked down the hall.  It rolled, still lit, onto one of the rugs.  The fire that started was more than enough to send the guards into a panic as they began to frantically attempt to extinguish the flames.

Thor ducked out the garden doors.  He sprinted through the maze of flowers and hedges, statues and fountains until he came to the high back fence.  He vaulted himself over it easily and took off through the trees for the meadow where he was meant to meet Volstagg and Fandral.  He reached the edge of the trees and spied his friends standing not far off.  They hadn’t noticed him yet and a wicked thought entered his mind.

They were throwing a stone the size of a melon back and forth across the way, laughing and talking.  Thor crouched in a copse of trees and bushes and waited for them to wander closer.  He couldn’t help but overhear their conversation from where he was seated.

“How long do you think his majesty the crown prince plans to make us wait here?”  Volstagg called to Fandral.  Fandral laughed and tossed the stone back to Volstagg.

“If it is too much longer, we shall simply go home.”  Volstagg grunted under the weight of the stone as it landed in his hands.

“Can you imagine the fit he will have should he find his way here only to find us absent?”  They both laughed.

“We may discover a crater when next we visit the meadows!”

“What a royal temper tantrum that would be!”  Thor’s hands crackled with electricity.  He shook with rage and indignation.  How dare his ‘friends’ speak about him this way.  What audacity.

“How _dare_ you disrespect the son of Odin!”  Fandral cried in a poor imitation of Thor.  Volstagg nearly fell over with laughter.

Thor didn’t trust himself to confront them.  Not without killing them.  He turned from his hideaway and stalked back towards the palace.  Where before he was focused on speed and stealth, now he stomped through the underbrush with force.  An occasional shock of lightning would shoot out from his fingertips and catch a tree or low hanging branch shriveling it to nothing.

He jumped back over the garden walls and was met with a small army of palace guards.  Thor eyed them all sternly as recognition blossomed in their eyes.  They lowered their weapons and stepped aside to reveal a very angry Odin.  Thor was far too pissed off himself to worry about anybody else’s anger.

“Do you think yourself above my ruling for the simple fact that you are my son?”  Thor crossed his arms over his chest.

“Do you think I am above rebellion for the simple fact that you are my father?”  He spit back.  Thor’s heart clenched and a chill shot up his back.  It was the wrong thing to say.  Odin took two steps forward and gripped Thor by the back of his neck.  Thor grunted in discomfort as Odin yanked him through the palace.

He heard Frigga asking Odin about the fuss, but Odin barked something back at her and kept moving.  They arrived in the dungeons and Odin tossed Thor into one of the cells.  Thor stumbled forward and caught himself on the floor.  When he turned around, Odin had locked him in the cell and was standing on the other side of the golden glass.

“Father?”  Thor shouted.  Odin raised his chin to look down his nose at Thor.

“When you learn what respect it, we will discuss your return to society.”  Thor stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed at his father.

“You mean to leave me here?”  Odin frowned at his son.

“If you had respected my punishment for your first offense, I would not have needed to resort to these dramatics.  Perhaps next time you will practice obedience.”  Odin left then.  Before Thor had the opportunity to argue his case further.

Thor charged the glass.  It was the least intelligent move he could have made.  Touching the grid like glass felt like he had dumped the blood from his veins and refilled them with molten lava.  He fell onto his back and lay spasming on floor of his cell.  Somewhere between a minute and an hour later, the pain disappeared.  He rolled to his side panting and looked out his cell and straight into the eyes of his brother.

“What happened?”  Loki asked innocently.

“None of your business.”  Thor snapped.  Loki frowned down at his brother.

“You tried to break the grid, didn’t you?”  Thor said nothing.  Loki took his silence as a response.  “That was not very smart, brother.  The grids are neutralizers and potentially fatal should one maintain contact with them for too long.”  Thor flipped back over to his back and stared at the ceiling.  He heard Loki slide onto his butt beside him.

“They had to shut down the whole wing of the palace.”  Thor returned his gaze to his brother.  “The fire you started nearly killed three people.”  By the Norns.  He hadn’t meant to do such damage.  “Mother is working alongside many Aesir to not only repair the damage, but to enchant all flammable items with resistancy charms.  When they finish repairing that wing, they plan to move on to the rest of the palace and enchant everything.”

“A valiant quest.  It will take even mother some time to complete it.”  Loki smiled and nodded.

“I am to assist whenever I have a free moment.”  He continued.  “Which, as you know, is often.”  Thor sighed.

“I apologize for spoiling your free time, brother.”  Thor mumbled.  Loki smiled.

“I cannot believe father put you in the dungeons.”  He laughed.  Thor chuckled and nodded his head.

“He might have forgiven me for the fire had I not lost my temper upon my return.”  Loki raised a brow at him.

“Oh?”  Thor shook his head.

“I overheard Fandral and Volstagg speaking ill of me when I went to join them in the meadows.”  Loki frowned.

“Your friends were?”  Thor sighed and shook his head.

“’Tis nothing.  I shall think no more on it.”  Loki looked around his cell.

“Well there isn’t much else for you to do in there.”  Thor laughed.

“I shall be out by dinner, brother.”  Loki narrowed his eyes at Thor in question.

“How can you be so certain?”

“Do you truly believe mother would allow one of her sons to be caged up down here with this rabble?”  He tucked his hands under his head and cross his ankles.  “She will not relent until father returns and sets me free and until then I think I shall nap.”  Loki smiled.

“I suppose I shall see you at dinner, then.”  Thor nodded and closed his eyes.

He wasn’t wrong.  Frigga appeared at Thor’s cell to release him though Odin himself was nowhere to be seen.

“I may have taken you from the dungeon, Thor, but I would like you to think of your bedchambers as your new cell.  You will leave them only when Lady Unn or Lady Dagmar fetch you for meals and you will not be permitted audience with your friends.  Your actions today have very nearly taken the lives of three servants.  You should reflect on this while in your room.”  Frigga told him as she led him up to his room.  “Your father will not see you until I have deemed your punishment complete.  Do you understand?”  Thor watched the floor as they walked.

“Yes, mother.”  He murmured.  Frigga frowned down at him.

“Speak clearly, Thor.”  She demanded.

“Yes, mother.”  He repeated in a louder, but no less reluctant voice.  Frigga smiled and urged him inside his rooms.

“The next time you think to escape, I will leave you in the dungeons.”  Frigga declared firmly.  Thor swallowed and nodded as he watched her pull his door shut.

It wasn’t often he saw his mother angry.  Honestly, it was infinitely scarier than seeing Odin angry.  Thor swore to do whatever it took to regain his mother’s favor.  He would be the best and most repentant prisoner they had ever seen.

A full month passed in his bedchambers.  Frigga visited him frequently though Loki was the only one to spend most of every day by Thor’s side.  He claimed it was to escape the chore of charming flammable items, but Thor suspected it was because Loki did not want his brother to feel lonely. 

Thor eventually found himself missing everything from outside the walls of his bedchambers.  Even Volstagg and Fandral were in his thoughts, though he was told they did not inquire after him or his whereabouts.  He wondered when they had left the meadow after he never showed himself.  He supposed they were right to be upset.  He had intended to meet them at dawn and it had been well into midday when he had finally gotten out to the meadows.

On the final day of his internment, Frigga arrived at his bedchambers with Odin.  Thor apologized for his irresponsible and incredibly reckless behavior and professed that such rampant disregard for decorum would never happen again on his part.  Frigga and Odin shared a knowing smile at that and nodded to Thor in acceptance of his apology.

“Very well, my son, you are free to go.”  Odin told him.  Thor’s face split into a wide grin and he barreled out the door and down the hallway excitedly.  He had decided that the first thing he would do would be to apologize to Fandral and Volstagg for making them wait in the meadows all day.

It took a while to locate them though he did not mind.  Any excuse to wander about outside the palace was good enough for him.  The feel of the soft breeze, the warm sun on his skin, the floral scent that floated in the air filled him with such joy he could not imagine being without the comfort of his home around him.

He finally found his friends practicing sword fighting at the public training lot.  He ran up to them excitedly and they stopped upon seeing him.

“Friends!  I have returned from exile!”  He joked.  Volstagg and Fandral did not greet him with the same energy.  He frowned at them and lowered his hands.  “I apologize for the meadows.”  His friends exchanged a bizarre look.

“You think a simple apology would square us?”  Volstagg demanded.  Thor frowned at them.

“Well, I did not act on any ill intentions.”  Fandral barked out a short laugh.

“No ill intentions, eh?”  He asked.  “So girly-boy was meant as a compliment, was it?”  Fandral demanded.

“What?”  Thor asked with genuine confusion.

“Aye, and I suppose I should take the nickname Pig Lard as a badge of honor?”  Volstagg challenged.

“What are you talking about?”  Thor demanded.

“You came to greet us in the fields and delivered the most unsavory compliments you could muster and passed them off as tokens of friendship.  You give us great insult and profess that we should not be angered with you because you are Odin’s son.”

“Well, we are not honored.  Odin’s son or not.”  Thor stared at them mutely for a full minute.

“I never made it to the meadows?”  Thor finally announced.  “I set a fire in the palace by accident and have been interned in my bedchambers for the past month.”  Fandral and Volstagg shared another look.

“Surely not.  It was most definitely you we saw in the meadows.”  Fandral announced decidedly.  Thor shook his head.

“I am saying that unless by some spectacular feat of magic I managed to be in two places at once it could not have possibly been….”  Thor stopped and looked back to the palace.  “Loki.” 


	12. Twin Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follow up to Overcast (Chapter 6) told from Thor's point of view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING : SAD CHAPTER. BRING TISSUES.

Thor was the crown prince of Asgard.  He was handsome and powerful and the most skillful combatant in the Asgardian army.  Every woman wanted him and every man wanted to be him.  Every eligible maiden he had come across in all the realms had professed their love for him.  Many did so in hopes that he would propose marriage.  Others were satisfied with the late night pleasure of his company.

To his mother’s dismay, Thor found none of them worthy to be his bride.  None could match the impossibly high standards set by his mother.  In his mind, a suitable queen must be both strong and nurturing.  She needed a fierceness to hold her ground and compassion for her subjects.  Frigga had set the bar high and no one seemed capable of living up to it.

Fighting, battle, war and strategy, these were all things he knew intrinsically.  When it came to matters of the heart – to matters of love – he was completely clueless.  He could count on his hands the number of people he could truly say he loved.  His parents and brother were of course at the top of the list.  His friends; Volstagg, Fandral, Hogan, and Sif followed closely behind though not necessarily in that order.  And though he thought it was strange, he added Mjolnir to the list.

Sometimes, late at night, Thor would speak to Mjolnir.  He would tell it things he knew neither his family nor his friends could hope to understand.  On the battlefields, when he was outnumbered and running low on options, he thought he could hear Mjolnir speaking to him.  Telling him what to do next.

In the moments when Mjolnir wasn’t held securely in his hand his palm would ache for it.  His body would tense only relaxing when the soft leather of Mjolnir’s handle.  He hadn’t known anyone that could make him feel the way Mjolnir did and that had become his standard for a worthy partner.

After many years he thought there might be a certain maiden that would make a suitable wife and partner.  She had long been a friend to him.  He could hardly remember a time before he had known her.  She was a favorite with his mother, a fierce warrior on the battlefield, and a beauty rivaled by no other.  She was someone he truly trusted.  In fact, she was already someone he included in the short list of people he loved.

It was obvious to him that Lady Sif would be the best queen for him after he was crowned king.  Despite many indications of her feelings for him, Sif was one of the only women in the whole of Asgard that had never professed loved to him.  On more than one occasion Thor suspected she might though she never did.  Thor knew it was unfair to her to play at naivety.  He thought it would be crueler to answer her love with any uncertainty on his part.  He had no desire to break her heart.  He never expected her to break his.

Yet he cannot deny that that is what happened when his brother walked out of the library in the moonless hours of the night.  The night he peeked into the library to see the smooth, bare back of Lady Sif as she straightened her gown.  It took him longer than he cared to admit to comprehend what it was he had walked in on.  He had thought Sif had gone home hours ago.  Thought Loki long abed as well.

He had left his room for a reason, but he could no longer remember what it was.  He appeared back in his room though he did not recall walking there.  The ladies complained of a lack of drink, but Thor was no longer of a mind to humor them.  He sent them both away in a most unprincely manner, but he could not find it in himself to care.  He ended up in an armchair on his balcony staring out at the Bifrost waiting for his heart to beat easily again.

“Thor?”  Frigga called to him.  She must have knocked, but he hadn’t heard it.  She stepped into his bedroom lit only by a smattering of sunlight coming through the windows.  She found him on the balcony and knelt beside him to lay her hand on his cheek.  “Are you unwell, my son?”  She asked gently.  Thor covered her hand with his own and forced a smile onto his face.  The pain in his chest was not something he wished to give to anyone else, least of all his mother.

“I am quite well, mother.  I am simply taking in the day.”  Frigga’s thin brows pulled together concernedly and she shook her head slowly.

“My son, it is now nearly dusk.  You have been sat here all day.”  Thor swallowed and cast his eyes back over the kingdom.  “It must have been something served to you last night.”  Frigga said decidedly.  Thor wrinkled his brow at his mother.

“What makes you say so?”  He asked.

“It is the only explanation as to why both you and your brother have turned so withdrawn and melancholic.”  She explained.  “Loki remains shut up in his own room as we speak.”  The news only served to further confound Thor.  What had Loki to mope about?  Hadn’t he gotten the girl?  Hadn’t he won?  He pushed himself from his chair and turned to pull Frigga to her feet.  He placed a kiss on her cheek.

“I shall go and speak with him.”  Thor told her.  Frigga sighed and shook her head.

“I do not think it will do much good.  I already tried speaking with him earlier.  It seems he will have none of it and he refuses to confess the issue though that has always been his nature.  He is so secretive.”  Thor patted the back of her hand comfortingly.

“Come now, mother, in times of despair a man needs not his mother, but his brother.”  He gave her a reassuring grin.  “I shall right him in no time.”  Thor set off for Loki’s room without further hesitation.

The door was locked when he arrived, but what is a door to the mightiest son of Odin?  Nothing more than a plank of wood.  It cracked under his forceful hands and sounded not unlike thunder signaling his arrival.  Loki was on his feet half crouched in a defensive stance when Thor entered the room.

Thor looked his brother up and down.  Dark circles hung below troubled eyes and he wore the same clothes as the day before which was extremely uncommon for him.  From the state of him, Thor would guess that Loki had slept about as much as he had.  But why?  What could Loki possibly have to fret over?  Thor was the one with a broken heart.

“Oh, by the Norns, Thor!”  Frigga exclaimed from behind him.  “Look at the mess you’ve made!”  Thor paid Frigga little mind choosing to focus on the problem before him instead.

“Good morrow, brother!”  Thor crowed with feigned enthusiasm.  “Shall we go outside and smell the meadow flowers?”  Loki opened his mouth, but Thor did not wait for his reply before gripping him by the front of his tunic and half pushing, half carrying Loki through the balcony doors and over the ledge.  He held one hand out for Mjolnir as they fell while Loki clawed at his forearm scrambling for safety.  With a faint hum, Mjolnir appeared in his hand and carried the brothers away from the palace and out to the top of one of Asgard’s greatest waterfalls. 

Thor released Loki just before they landed and he fell back and slid to the edge of the cliff.  Loki lay on his back on the ground for a moment before climbing to his feet with an irritated huff and glowering at Thor.

“I thought you said meadow.”  Loki grumbled, brushing dirt and stray grass from his clothing.

“I thought I could trust you.”  Thor shot back.  Loki patted down his hair and gave Thor a quizzical look.

“Trust?”  He asked.  “Tell me, brother, what have I done to lose your trust?”  Thor had lost all patience for Loki’s false innocence.

“You know damn well what you have done.”  Thor snarled.  Despite everyone’s sourest opinion of him, Thor was no idiot.  Hot headed?  Yes.  Ill tempered?  Obviously.  Too often he acted before he thought, but none of that meant he was an idiot.  Loki picked at the cuff of one of his sleeves.

“Am I to assume you are referring to Sif?”  Thor made no reply.  He was confident that his brother would fill in all the blanks for him with no further prodding on Thor’s part.  For the smart brother, this tactic worked far too often as it did now.  “The same Sif you have never shown any interest in or romantic inclination for since we were three years old?”  Thor chewed at his cheek and tried desperately to keep a level head.  “If that is what this is about, then I would have you know that it was Sif that made the first move.”  Something flickered in Loki’s eyes and he snapped his mouth shut so hard his teeth clicked together.

Thor waited for him to say more, but his brother remained silent.  The rush of the water over the cliff’s edge was the only sound for a long while.  For a fraction of a second, Thor thought he saw the glimmer of a tear sliding down Loki’s pale cheek, but when he looked more closely, nothing was there.

“She was meant for me.”  Thor declared, breaking the heavy silence.  Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“She has her own mind.”  Thor clenched his fist around Mjolnir’s comfortable handle.

“She loves me.”  Thor insisted.  Loki let out a sarcastic laugh.

“Oh?  Did _she_ tell you that?”  Loki paced the small area of the cliff’s edge.  “Or was that just your big ego telling you that _you_ are the first son of Odin.  _You_ are the future king of Asgard.  Oh, look at me!  I’m Thor, crown prince of Asgard so everybody _must_ love _me_!  _I_ am the older brother.  _I_ must get everything – EVERYTHING! – and my brother should do well to live in my shadow with _nothing_!”  Loki’s whole body was trembling now.  “No.  _More_ than that, he should be _happy_ to have the _privilege_ of standing in my shadow!  He should aspire to no more than my cast-offs for the whole of his life until he wastes away.”  Loki clenched his jaw, but his body still trembled with tightly checked rage.

Thor stared across the short distance to his brother.  The shaking reminded Thor of a hatching egg.  The jokes and banter were the shell he hid behind.  Something was inside the shell and Thor had a feeling it was something that would do well to stay in the shell.  It was something strong.  Something fierce.  Something frightening.  But now, suddenly, the shell was beginning to crack.  The thought made Thor feel something he had not felt in years.  Fear.

In that moment, Thor forgot Sif.  Forgot his presumed heartbreak and the cause of his quarrel with Loki to begin with.  He crossed the distance, dropping Mjolnir into the dirt as he went and pulled Loki’s shaking body into a tight embrace.  Loki’s trembling stopped.  He seemed frozen in shock.  His body was tense as though he expected at any moment for Thor to change his grip and launch him over the waterfall.  When he didn’t, Loki relaxed just a bit.  Thor kept his hold on Loki until he returned the embrace and then a few minutes longer.

If his brother were breaking apart, it was all Thor could do to hold him together as long as he could.


	13. Sense of Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An attempt on the young princes' lives is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short. I hope you like it anyway!

Many people assume that being royal is comprised of elegant clothing, pampering, servants to wait on you hand and foot, and large palaces to wander through.  And those people would not be wrong, but they would not be completely right.  Of course there are servants and palaces and feasts and elegance, but there is also great danger in being royal.  There is even greater danger in being a royal of Asgard.

Asgards enemies are great as they should be.  A great kingdom should have great enemies.  Any less would be a mockery.  Asgard’s enemies are quick and stealthy and sly.  Some can trick even the most discerning eyes with little effort on their part.  In spite of all their devious qualities, their threat was seen as minimal.  Few would consider attacking the Asgardians on their home turf.  Fewer still would go about the enormous effort it would take to infiltrate their great kingdom.

But now Odin had two new sons.  Two new heirs to his throne.  Two new threats to the enemies’ perceptions of an inevitable victory.  Suddenly, there was a new reason to break into Asgard.  Two new reasons.  Two very young and very vulnerable reasons.  Years had gone by since word that Odin had had a set of twin boys.  He felt confident that none of his enemies had come with the mind to murder his heirs in that time.  In five years’ time, not one of his enemies had made any attempt on Asgard and he was certain they never would.

Thor was already an impossible force of destruction and Loki wielded magic as simply and elegantly as one might dance.  In only a few more years, Odin felt confident that they would both be able to defend themselves without aide.  This knowledge allowed Odin to sleep peacefully throughout the night.

It was on one such peaceful night that the balcony window to Thor’s room eased open and a black clad assassin entered.  The room was large with no sparsity in furniture and adornments.  The assassin moved toward the monstrous bed in the center of the wall to the right.  He waited until he was standing beside the bed to draw his blade.  It was long, thin, and sheer black.  He pulled the blankets down enough that he could see the prince’s head.

Or he might have been able to see the top of the prince’s head.  If the prince had been in his bed.  Instead, the assassin flung the blankets off the bed entirely in a frenzied search for the boy.  He had been absolute in his information.  He had waited and bided his time posing as a shop clerk for five years until he knew the layout of the palace and the locations of the boys’ bedrooms as well as he knew the back of his hand.

Where was he?  Where was the crown prince?  The assassin dropped silently to the floor balancing his entire body weight on his toes and fingertips.  He looked under the bed expecting a pair of terrified eyes staring back at him, but there was nothing in the blackness beneath the bed.  He groaned inwardly and returned to his feet.  Where could a young prince possibly be?  He weighed his options.  He could go to the other son’s bedroom and kill him now, but that would raise too many alarms and he would never get his second chance at the first born.  The assassin stowed his blade and slid back out of the bedroom the same way he had come in and decided to try again in a week.

* * *

 

Something was telling Loki there was danger.  Not danger to him particularly, but danger.  A nagging feeling was telling him that Thor should stay nearby at all times.  It was a feeling that could not be ignored, so Loki glued himself to his brother’s side.  The worrisome feeling doubled as they were headed to bed.  There was nothing to be done.  Their wet nurses led them away from each other and into their separate bedrooms.

Loki lay in his bed staring at the canopy overhead.  He could not go to Thor’s room.  He wasn’t sure why, but he knew that it was important that Thor came to him and not the other way around.  Loki needed to lure Thor out of his room and over to Loki’s, but how?  He knew Thor was fascinated by spiders, but Loki’s illusions weren’t the best.  They were still glitchy and shimmered at times giving away their secrets.

Faced with no other options, Loki conjured a fleet of crawling spiders in all different colors.  He sent them under his bedroom door and down to Thor’s bedroom.  He knew the pathway like he knew his own name.  He sent them up the bedposts and onto Thor’s sleeping body.  He heard a loud shriek and then silence.

Loki pulled his spiders back towards him.  He slipped them under Thor’s bedroom door and down the hall.  Thor’s door opened and shut and he heard the loud clomping of his brother’s heavy footsteps.  Loki couldn’t believe it had actually worked.  He brought the spiders back into his room and waited for Thor to open the door.  It took a while for Thor to do it.  Loki watched his shadow outside his door and wondered what his brother could be thinking.

Slowly and quietly Thor turned Loki’s door handle and eased the heavy wooden door open.  His fluffy blonde head peeked into the room and around.  Loki sat up and looked at Thor curiously.  Thor entered the room the rest of the way and shut the door behind him.  He tiptoed to the bed and jumped up onto the mattress.

“Brother, were those spiders yours?”  Thor half whispered excitedly.  Loki debated between a truthful answer and a ruse.  He nodded slowly.  Thor’s face split into a wide grin and he grabbed Loki’s hands in his own.  “That was incredible!  How did you manage it?  I’ve been practicing my magic as mother says, but I simply cannot get it right.  I cannot cast even simple illusions and you have sent yours down the hall!”  Loki found himself smiling with his brother.  He wasn’t accustomed to getting complimented by anyone other than his mother.  Thor always did everything so much better.

“I thought to scare you.”  Loki lied.  Thor frowned.

“I wasn’t scared.  You know I actually love spiders.  I love snakes and dragons and those big green bugs with the knife hands.”  Thor mimicked the insect for Loki making him giggle.

“Praying Mantis.”  Loki offered.  Thor smiled and nodded.

“That one.”  He caught his lip between his teeth and nibbled at it.  “You… you don’t think you could _make_ one, do you?”  Loki frowned as he concentrated.  He had to remember what it looked like exactly.  After a few quiet seconds, a green shimmer moved over the bed and a bright green praying Mantis stood on his four hind legs staring at the princes.  “Amazing!”  Thor crowed.  “You’re incredible, brother!  Truly incredible!”  Loki blushed.

“I can make it bigger.”  He offered.  Thor tilted his head.

“Bigger?”  Loki smiled and held his hands out on either side of his mantis illusion.  Slowly and with great concentration, he pulled his hands apart and the Praying Mantis grew larger.  Thor’s eyes widened in amazement.  Soon, the mantis was too large to fit on the bed.  It back onto the floor and continued growing until its head touched the ceiling.

“Bigger.”  Loki told him triumphantly.  Thor’s mouth hung open in wonder.

“You truly have all mother’s talents for magic.”  Thor murmured.  Loki detected a touch of envy and sadness.

“Do not be disheartened, brother, you received all of father’s gifts for battle.”  Thor smiled and nodded.

“If you were to put the two of us together, we would become the ultimate warrior.”  Thor mused.  Loki frowned.

“We _are_ together.”  He argued.  Thor shook his head.

“No, I meant if we were one person.”  Loki continued frowning at the bed.  The giant mantis shimmered a few times and disappeared.  Thor tucked his feet under the blankets and stared at Loki.  “What is it?”  Loki shook his head.  He felt like crying.  “Brother?  Have I done something?” 

“You don’t want to be my brother.”  He mumbled.  “You wish you were an only child.”  Thor pulled back and tried to understand what his brother had said.

“I do not wish I were an only child.  I love being your brother.”  Thor told him.  “Why would you think otherwise?”  Loki couldn’t decide if Thor was being deliberately obtuse or if he genuinely didn’t understand what he had said.

“You wished we were one person instead of two.”  Thor smiled.

“I did not wish for such a thing!  I only thought that we are two halves of a whole.”  Loki wrinkled his brow at his brother.

“That is not what you said.”  Thor rolled his eyes.

“Well it is what I meant.”  He retorted.  Loki crossed his arms.

“Do you suppose we might have been one person at first?”  Loki mused.  He didn’t really expect Thor to respond.

“First when?”  Thor asked.

“In mother’s tummy.”  Loki explained.  Thor looked up at the canopy and wrinkled his nose as he thought.  “Maybe we started as one person and the Norns realized how immensely powerful we would have been and they became frightened and decided to split us into two.”  Thor turned his gaze to his brother and a small smile pulled at his lips.

“We are still together, though.  The Norns must be terrified for all of eternity for we shall never be parted!”  Loki giggled.  “Side by side forever and ever, the princes of Asgard shall be the most unstoppable force in the whole of the Nine Realms!”  Thor declared boldly.

They chattered for hours and Loki manifested illusion after illusion to impress his brother until they were both too tired to hold their eyes open any longer and they fell asleep.  It wasn’t until they awoke the next morning that Loki realized the sinking feeling that something bad would happen had disappeared.

They were both safe.  Together.


	14. A Great Distance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor unlocks his power terrifying Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending sounds really cliche so I'm sorry. I couldn't think of a nicer way to end it and am tired of trying. Enjoy it anyway!

Loki loved his brother.  There was no question about it.  Wherever Thor went and whatever Thor did, Loki was never far behind.  Occasionally Thor would become irritated with Loki trailing him like a shadow and Loki would run off to their mother to mope.  But it never lasted very long and Thor and Loki would be together again by the next morning.

Thor loved his brother.  There was no question about it.  In all things there was nobody he trusted more.  Not his parents and not his friends.  Loki was his confidant.  So opposite to him in every way, nobody could talk him down from a fight like Loki could.  And Thor had a temper to rival Asgard’s fiercest enemies.  Without Loki, Thor would most assuredly find himself in far more fights.  Not that Loki was without his demons.  Nobody had quite the penchant for causing trouble like Loki did.  Alone, they were wild and unpredictable.  Nigh, unstoppable.  Together they balanced one another.

So the three week stretch where the brothers were apart when they were only four years old was something truly monumental and something they never spoke of.  In fact, if the matter were brought up in any conversation, the brothers would immediately change the subject.  It wasn’t necessarily embarrassment over the separation as much as it was about the reason behind the separation.

It happened during a rare argument between the boys.  To an adult’s eyes, the fight would seem meaningless and inconsequential, but to the four year old princes it was everything.  It was quite literally a life changing experience for the both of them.  It wasn’t anything as minor as a toy or as great as a betrayal of trust.  No.  The brothers fought over the challenge of magic use.

Loki was advancing quickly in his magical prowess while Thor struggled with the most basic of spells.  Thor, who was so used to being great at everything he put his mind to, was falling behind his younger brother.  Loki produced a minor illusion.  An adorable little brown mouse that he made to run in a small circle in front of where he sat in the gardens.  Thor became jealous and stomped down on it so that it disappeared in a shimmer of green magic.

“Why did you do that?”  Loki demanded standing up.  Thor crossed his arms and scowled at Loki.

“Because your magic is stupid.”  Thor declared.

“You’re stupid!”  Thor’s upper lip curled back dangerously.

“I am not!  You are!  You are the stupidest person in all of the Nine Realms!”  Loki stomped his foot and curled his small hands into fists at his sides.

“You’re so stupid you can’t even use magic!”  That was all it took for something in Thor to snap.  The skies changed in a second from bright and blue and sunny to dark and black and dangerous.  Thunder rumbled all around them and Thor’s eyes turned electric blue and terrifying.  Loki’s pale face became paler and his throat tightened with fear.

Lightning crackled in the sky and shot down to strike the ground no more than a foot beside them.  Loki screamed in terror, but Thor didn’t seem to notice the storm overhead or the change in himself.  He tackled Loki to the ground and began pummeling him with his fists.  Loki was too scared to do anything more than lie back and take the beating.  Lightning struck around them.  One bolt came down and met his fist wrapping around his arm like a whip of white hot electricity.

“Stop!”  Odin’s large hand closed around Thor’s lightning fueled arm and hauled him off of his broken and bloody brother.  Thor roared and struggled to get back at Loki who lay still accepting his defeat.  “Stop.”  Odin ordered again.  He held Thor aloft by his arm and shook him like a rag doll.  The lightning faded from his eyes and the storm clouds gradually cleared away.

“Loki!”  Frigga cried, hurrying to her wounded son.  She cradled him in her arms and stroked his short, black hair softly humming a soothing song to him.  The moment he was safe in his mother’s arms, Loki’s floodgates broke free and he began sobbing with pain and fear.

“What were you thinking?”  Odin demanded.  He had set Thor back on the ground and gripped him by the shoulders still shaking him.  Thor stared, wide eyed up at his father’s heavily bearded face.  Loki’s sobs were only slightly muffled by his face being buried in Frigga’s neck.  The noise was enough to bring tears to Thor’s eyes.

“I’m sorry.”  Thor whimpered.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.”  Tears were dripping down his chubby cheeks.  “I’m sorry.”  He sniffled.  Odin ran a hand down his face, stopping it on his beard and stared down at Thor who was still mumbling out his string of apologies over and over again.

“He is only a child, my dear.  His power is new.  He cannot control it.”  Frigga said.  Odin sighed as he stared at the whimpering Thor, still so small.  Far too small to hold the enormous power he did.  He nodded after another second of thought.

“You are quite right, my love.  Take Loki away and tend to his wounds.  I will attempt to teach Thor control.”  Frigga stayed where she was.  Her concerned gaze fixed on her teary son.  Too young, far, far too young to deal with the gifts he had.  Loki let loose another pathetic wail and Frigga squeezed him tightly and turned away into the palace.

“Hush now, Loki.  You’re alright.”  Frigga cooed at him.  She crushed a healing stone over his broken nose and used a wet cloth to clean the blood from the rest of his more minor abrasions.  Loki’s whole body was trembling uncontrollably.  Sobs ripped from his shuddering chest like a saw through a tree.

“S-scared!”  He bawled.  “W-why did that h-happen?”  Frigga pulled Loki onto her lap and rocked him gently rubbing his small back softly.

“You have your talents, Loki, your gifts.  You wield magic beautifully and have a somewhat amusing knack for mischief.  Your brother has his own gifts. His own talents.  The storms and the thunder are one of those gifts.  Right now, he is brand new to his gifts and they are not quite so easy to control as yours.  Powerful emotions draw his power out.”  Frigga pet Loki’s soft, black hair.  “I am certain your brother did not mean to hurt you.  I think he did not even mean to frighten you so.  He simply could not control himself.”

“I do not like Thor, mother.”  Loki declared.  “I do not like his powers.  He is angry and frightening and mean.”  Frigga tilted Loki’s head up so he would look her in the eyes.

“His power may scare you, Loki, but Thor is still your brother and nothing will ever change that.  You must not let your own fears taint your bond.  Do you understand?”  Loki pulled his head away and looked at the floor.  “Loki.”  Loki whimpered again and nodded not because he truly understood, but because he knew that was what Frigga wanted him to say.

Frigga’s mind went back to Thor.  Poor, terrified Thor who was likely more scared of his new power than Loki was.  She tucked Loki into bed and told him to rest.  She placed a sweet kiss on his forehead before leaving in search of Odin and Thor.

Loki avoided Thor for weeks.  It took only a few hours for Thor to notice.  Loki was more constant than his own shadow.  The absence of him was like an absence of his eye.  Despite the very obvious lack of his dark haired brother, Thor thought little of it until the third day.  He had often been annoyed whenever his brother clung to him like a duckling to its mother.  Now, he missed the company his brother supplied.  Longed for the cheerful banter they exchanged and the games they always played.

Loki hid in places he knew Thor would not look for him.  Places like the overlook to the palace training grounds, the palace forge, or the armory.  He would practice the spells Frigga taught to him and imagined a future where he was king of Asgard in place of his older brother.  He imagined becoming a bird and flying away from Asgard to one of the other Nine Realms.  He imagined dark things that frightened him and thrilled him all at once.  Whatever he could do to occupy himself without resorting to playing with his brother.

Still, Loki loved Thor.  Being apart from him was almost more painful than Thor breaking his nose.  But only almost and that wasn’t enough to make Loki risk appearing before his unpredictable brother again.  Loki could not imagine what the use of Thor’s new gift could be.  Thunder was a tool of destruction and Asgard was in no need of a destroyer.  Not to Loki’s limited knowledge anyway.

Twenty-two days passed with the brothers barely setting eyes on one another other than at meals.  Twenty-two endlessly boring days void of anything even remotely fun or entertaining.  It might have been longer.  Loki was nothing if not intrinsically stubborn.  Thor was by no means a genius, but given enough time he could think up some truly remarkable schemes.  Although his plan to catch Loki was ultimately a no-brainer.  He sat in an armchair in Loki’s bedroom and simply waited for him to return which he must have done eventually.

When Loki reentered his bedroom that night he didn’t notice Thor sitting near the balcony until he was already across the room.  When he did, he froze like a deer startled by an odd crunch of twigs.  Thor had been trying for so long to talk to his brother that now, when given the chance, he had no idea what to say.

“Hello, brother.”  He managed.  Loki was no more loquacious.

“Hello.”  Loki backed away from Thor slowly.

“Wait, brother!”  Thor cried.  Loki flinched, expecting pain.  “No, wait.  I’m sorry.”  Thor held his hands out in surrender.  “I didn’t mean to hurt you.  I didn’t mean to make you angry.”  Thor tried to explain.  “It was an accident, truly.”  Loki stopped backing away, but angled his body for the door in case he needed to make a quick exit.

“You stomped on my mouse and called me stupid.”  Loki recanted.  Thor grimaced and nodded glumly.

“I was jealous.”  He mumbled.  “I can’t do magic and you can.”  Loki frowned at the floor between them.

“You can make scary thunderstorms and I cannot.”  Thor nodded.  “Is that not magic?”  Thor’s brow furrowed with thought.  He hadn’t considered that.

“I am very sorry, brother.”  Thor said again.  Loki relaxed a bit, though he was still cautious of his brother’s new power.

“I forgive you, brother.”  Loki wasn’t one hundred percent certain that he did forgive him, but knew it was what he was meant to say.  Thor beamed at Loki and his uncertainties about forgiveness disappeared.

“Then will you play with me once more?”  Thor asked eagerly.  Loki considered his brother for a moment.

“I thought you might be happy that I was not around more.”  Thor shrugged his shoulders and frowned.

“Perhaps for a little while, but I enjoy our games.  I have always enjoyed our games.  Do you not?”  Loki grinned at his big brother.

“I do.”  He assured.  Thor smiled again contentedly.

“What shall we play?”  Loki considered the question.

“Break the Guards?”  He suggested.  Thor’s eyes went wide with excitement and he nodded emphatically.  The brothers, reunited, ran out into the palace in search of guards to terrorize.

So, you see, the brothers loved each other very much.  More than any fight could break them apart.  More than any fear could make them distance themselves from one another.  The two princes of Asgard may separate for a time, but without any doubt, they will always find their ways back to each other and mend any broken trusts or wounded feelings.  Love will always conquer all.


	15. Trouble and Transfiguration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki has trouble with a magic spell and gets into a bit of trouble. Thor comes along for the ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! 60 kudos! You guys must enjoy this so I made another. Enjoy!!!! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

“Come on,” Loki growled.  A line had formed between his brows and his lips were pursed in concentration.  “Come _on_!”  A chalice sat before him on the dining table.  It shimmered with Loki’s green magic, but remained unchanged.  Not what he was going for.

Frustrated, Loki grabbed the chalice and hurled it against the far wall.  It ricocheted off the wall and struck the helmet of a gold plated suit of armor near one of the doors.  Metal clanged against metal making Loki wince and cover his ears.  The small chalice clattered harmlessly to the floor, but the suit of armor tilted precariously.  Loki watched in abject horror it crashed to the floor with the loudest noise imaginable.  It echoed around the walls of the large, empty dining hall calling the guards to investigate.

Six guards rushed in from all entrances and Loki ducked under the table just in time to avoid being seen.  He cast an illusion over himself to keep him invisible.  At least as long as he didn’t make any noise.  Loki took slow, even breaths to keep the guards from noticing him crouched under the table.  He watched them examine the crumpled suit of armor curiously.

One guard found the chalice where it had rolled against a dresser.  He turned it in his hands as though it were some type of disguised weapon.  The guard turned his gaze to the seat where Loki had been only seconds before making Loki hold his breath.  Some thought was churning in the guard’s head.  He narrowed his eyes at the table and then the exits.

Loki decided not to wait around for the guard to get wise to his tricks and started to crawl stealthily down the table towards one of the exits.  When he got to the end he realized there was no way to get from his spot beneath the table and out of the hall without his illusion being rendered null.  He looked back at the legs of the six guards who were chattering around his pile of destruction.  Loki shut his eyes, took a breath, and bolted out the door.

He heard the guards behind him shout and ran faster.  Down the hall and around the corner.  Further.  Faster.  As fast as he could until he collided head on with something solid, smashing his face into it.  He started to fall backwards and whatever or _who_ ever he had collided with grabbed him by the wrist and held him upright on his feet.  Loki lifted his free hand to his face to rub his sore nose and squinted at wall before him.

“Alright, brother?”  Thor asked placing his hands on Loki’s shoulders to steady him.  Loki cast a furtive glance behind him and breathed a sigh of relief at the empty hallway.  He turned his attention back to his brother.

“If anyone asks, tell them we have been playing together outside in the gardens all day.”  Thor pulled back slightly and arched a brow at him.

“What did you do?”  Loki twisted his mouth in distaste at the accusatory and blatantly superior tone his brother was using.

“Well, it isn’t as though it was on purpose!”  He snapped.  The sound of rhythmically clanking metal alerted the brothers to the approaching guards.  Loki looked around the hallway quickly and hurried over to a potted plant.  Thor watched him with amused interest.  Loki scooped two handfuls of soil out of the pot and began smearing on himself.  His clothing, his neck, his face.  Anywhere that a young boy that had been roughhousing outdoors might accumulate dirt.  Then, scooping up two more handfuls, he turned to his brother.

Thor had turned his eyes back down the hallway to watch for incoming guards when Loki walked up to him and smeared a handful of dirt onto his face.  Thor grabbed Loki by the wrist and pulled his face away. He spat out a mouthful onto the artisan rug beneath their feet.  Loki barely suppressed a giggle at the look of indignation on his brutish brother.

“What are you doing?”  Thor demanded.  Loki wiped his second handful of dirt over Thor’s shirt and pants.  Thor shoved Loki away and brushed his hands down his clothing.  Loki dusted his hands together letting the excess dirt fall onto the rug.

“We were in the gardens.  Now there is proof.”  Loki told his brother simply.  Thor looked down at himself and Loki could see that he was mildly impressed.  Thor looked back up and Loki saw the recognition spark in his eyes.  Thor leaned into Loki to whisper in his ear.

“Nobody was hurt?”  He verified.  Loki shook his head and gripped his brother’s forearm in a wordless promise.  Thor nodded once and then broke into a wide grin.

“Brother!  You may best me in speed, but when it comes to power I shall win every time!”  He crowed loudly.  Loki threw on an equally cheesy grin in response.

“Only if you can catch me!”  He taunted playfully.  Thor laughed.

“An easy feat when you are always tripping over yourself.”  Loki narrowed his eyes at his brother.  Thor was testing him.  He knew it.

“I believe you are mixing us up, brother.  You are the one that cannot keep your feet beneath you.”  He bit out.  The conversation had done the trick.  The guard, the same one that had found the chalice, came to meet them.

“Your Highnesses.”  He greeted formally accompanied by a small bow.  The princes stared up at him with dirty faces waiting for him to state his purpose.  “Have either of you been in or around the dining hall recently?”  He asked politely, but his eyes were staring at Loki.

“Not since breakfast.”  Loki lied easily.  Thor scratched at a patch of dirt on his cheek and watched his brother talk his way out of trouble.  “My brother and I have been entertaining ourselves in the gardens until just a few moments ago.”  Loki looked down at his dirtied hands and then back at his filthy brother.  He feigned a sheepish expression that was so good it was practically art.  “I suppose we may have gotten carried away a bit, wouldn’t you say?”  He asked the guard.

“Oh, uh, I suppose you have.”  The guard answered.  Loki nodded to the guard and started to walk around him.  “Although, I was out in the gardens only an hour ago and I did not see nor did I hear either of you.”  The guard continued.  Without missing a beat, Loki turned back to the guard with a smile.

“You must not have been in the same garden, then.”  The guard licked his lips.  He wanted to say that he knew it had been Loki in the dining hall and that he had knocked over the suit of armor, but he had no proof.  In fact, the only other witness that might be of any help was sidling alongside his brother waiting for the farce to be over.

“I suppose it must have been as you said.”  The guard mused.  Loki gave him a polite smile and nodded again.

“Well, as fascinating as this conversation has been, my brother and I need be off.  Mother is expecting us for tea, though I suspect she will be less than pleased at the state of us.”  Loki jested.  Out of the corner of his eye, Loki saw Thor open his mouth to argue with Loki on the tea subject.  Quickly, Loki brought his heel down on Thor’s toes.  Thor snapped his mouth shut and gritted his teeth against the pain that was more of an annoyance than anything else.  “Excuse us.”  Loki told the guard before hauling his oversized brother down the hallway towards Frigga’s chambers.

Once they were out of ear shot of the guard, Thor pulled his arm from Loki’s grip and stopped.  Loki groaned and rolled his eyes.  He turned around to face his brother and waited for him to start his mini-lecture that was almost a perfect copy of Odin’s own You’ve Disappointed Me speech.

“Are we actually going to have tea with Mother?”  Thor asked instead.  Loki let a light laugh trickle up from his chest and breathe from his lips.  He started back on his path to Frigga.

“Well, _I_ am.  You, on the other hand, can do as you please.”  He tossed over back over his shoulder.  Thor debated for a minute before shrugging and catching up to his brother and matching step with him.  He nudged Loki lightly to get his attention again.  Loki looked over at Thor.

“Why _were_ the guards after you?”  He half whispered and half hissed.  Loki gave his brother a sideways look and considered him.  He frowned.

“I knocked over a suit of armor.”  He admitted.  Thor started giggled beside him.

“And what?  Was it made of glass?”  He asked.  “What’s the big deal?”  Loki scowled at him.

“The big deal is that we do not all have the ‘I’m-a-big-bumbling-brutish-oaf’ defense when we cause damages.”  Loki grumbled.  Thor was quiet for a second.

“Bumbling?”  He parroted.  “I do not bumble.  My body does not stop growing long enough for me to properly find my balance.  I do not bumble.”  Loki rolled his eyes.

“You forget that I have seen you trip over your own feet and catch yourself on your face.”  Loki reminded him.  “You bumble.”  Thor snorted beside him in a wonderful impression of an irritated bull.

“Perhaps I shall tell mother who was responsible for the dining hall catastrophe.”  He muttered.  Loki glowered at him.

“Do _that_ and some time when you least expect it, I will turn you into a frog.”  Loki threatened.  Thor’s eyes sparkled with amusement at the threat he perceived as a challenge.  They had stopped in front of Frigga’s parlor doors.  Thor gave Loki a wicked grin and shoved the doors open with both hands.

“Oh, Mother!”  He called out in a singsong as he stomped inside.

“Thor!”  Loki stage whispered at his back.  Too late.

Thor climbed up onto Frigga’s lap.  She grimaced at the sight of all the dirt on him, but wrapped her arms around him affectionately.  Thor immediately began blabbering about everything from the past twenty minutes.  Loki stood just inside the door knowing that running away now would only get him into more trouble.  Frigga pulled back from Thor and looked over at Loki with surprise.

“Loki!”  She chided.  Loki winced and looked at the floor in shame.  “Are you alright?”  She continued.  Loki peeked up at her reservedly and nodded.  “Why would you lie about something like that?”  Loki shrank into himself and shrugged.  “And what is worse than that is you convincing your brother to lie with you.”

“I’m sorry, Mother.”  He apologized quietly.  He heard her huff.

“And you, Thor!”  She continued, looking down at the child on her lap. “Lying is bad, of course, but to betray your brother’s confidence so easily is much, _much_ worse.”  Frigga admonished.  Thor’s eyes were wide with surprise.  He swallowed and looked down at his hands folded in his lap, his cheeks red with shame.

“I’m sorry, Mother.”  Thor mumbled in her lap.  Frigga nodded towards Loki.

“And to your brother.”  She ordered.  Thor winced.

“Sorry, brother.”  Frigga smiled, satisfied and beckoned Loki over to the table.  It was laid with tea and cakes and tarts all on a silky, white tablecloth.

“Good.  Now, come here and eat.”  She lifted Thor from her lap and settled him on a chair beside her.  Her pale dress was smudged with dirt, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care.  She smiled at her boys and asked them about their studies and practices.  Loki wished he had managed to transfigure the chalice.  He would have liked to have had Frigga praise him instead of chiding him.  He promised himself to practice twice as long until he mastered the transfiguration spell.

It took him almost a month.  He practiced endlessly.  He turned a chalice into a bird and back again.  He turned a pen into a snake.  A passing guard was turned into a wild boar which made Loki and Sif laugh until their sides hurt.  That was when Loki remembered his promise to Thor.

He set off in search of his brother and found him sparring with Volstagg in hand-to-hand combat.  Sif leaned over the banister on the overlook and cheered for Thor.  Fandral looked up from across the arena and waved at them.  Sif waved back and returned her eyes to the match.  Loki stuck his legs out over the ledge and pressed his face against the banister supports.  Thor and Volstagg were immersed in their match and, though their new company had likely not gone beyond their notice, they paid them no notice.

Loki waved his hands together in a slow, steady circle gathering his magic.  His eyes were trained on his brother who was moving around faster than the guard had been.  Loki hoped he hit his mark, though he wasn’t opposed to turning Volstagg into a frog instead.  Thor flipped over Volstagg’s shoulders and pulled his opponent down as he went.  Loki was always fascinated in the deftness and gracefulness with which Thor fought.  He could easily be convinced into a life where he did nothing more than watch his brother fight with increasingly difficult competitors.

Loki shook himself and remembered why he was there.  A ball of glowing, green magic swirled between his hands.  He pulled his arm back a fraction of an inch, aimed, and fired.  The green swirl hit Thor and disappeared.  Half a second later, Thor disappeared.  In his place was a slimy, green frog.

Volstagg clambered to his feet and looked around for his vanished opponent.  He took a heavy step back and barely missed the tiny frog Thor.  He croaked out a protest and Volstagg turned and looked down at his feet.  Volstagg tilted his head at the frog in confusion.  Behind him, Fandral had broken into a cacophony of laughter.  Loki started giggling and sagged against the banister.

“Loki!”  Sif protested even as Volstagg’s chortle rang out joining the crowd.  Sif chewed her lip and watched poor frog Thor concernedly.  “Turn him back!  He could get hurt!”  As if on cue, Volstagg staggered forward and caught frog Thor’s leg underneath.  Frog Thor let out a horrible screech and Loki jumped up in shock.  He waved away the spell and frog Thor became human Thor again.

He lay on his back clutching his arm and howling with pain.  Volstagg looked horrified to have caused so much damage.  Loki vaulted over the banister and landed in the dirt of the training pit.  Sif ran the long way around and came down the stairs.  Thor’s arm was very obviously broken.  Blood was pouring from it and forming a small pond of blood in the dry dirt beneath him.  The splintered bone jutted from ripped flesh in a gnarly mess.

“Mother!”  Loki screamed.  “Guards!  Help!  Get _help_!  My brother is hurt!” 

“Sorry!”  Volstagg cried.  “I’m sorry, Thor!  I swear it was an accident!  I didn’t mean – I could never mean to….  I’m sorry.”  Thor was crying unabashedly now.  Loki felt everything inside him churn.  Thor never cried.  Not when he was hurt.  Not when he was sad.  Never.

Frigga appeared at Thor’s side with Odin.  Odin lifted Thor gently in his arms and carried him into the palace. Loki hurried after them, rife with worry.  When they got to the medical wing, Frigga turned to Loki.

“Stay here, Loki.”  Loki craned his neck around her to try and see into the room.

“Is he going to be alright?”  Frigga patted Loki on his head.

“We are going to fix your brother up.  Just stay out here.”  She turned and entered the room shutting the doors behind her.

Loki barely had any time to feel guilty over the incident.  Thor was up and running around carelessly in only a day’s time.  Loki was once again jealous of how quickly his seemingly invincible brother could heal from things that would cripple an ordinary person.  Though the next time he decided to turn Thor into something, he would choose a more durable creature.


	16. If You Kill A Killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of Chapter 13: A Sense of Danger  
> The assassin returns to finish the job.

“Thor!”  Loki hissed into the darkness.  It was late and both princes should have been soundly abed.  Thor snored loudly and rolled over.  Loki’s eyes darted around the room in search of danger before scampering over to his brother’s enormous bed and crawling onto the mattress.  Thor was sleeping on his stomach, his face half buried in his pillows.  Loki knelt beside him and poked his brother’s chubby cheek with his pale finger.  Thor snuffled and blindly brushed Loki’s hand away.

Not to be deterred, Loki decided to amuse himself until he found Thor’s limit.  It was a game he found himself playing often.  Thor was boorish and hot-headed with most everyone else, but when it came to Loki, he seemed almost indifferent.  It infuriated Loki.  To be thought so lowly of that he was not even worth fighting with.  Every time Loki played his Thor’s Limits Game, he would have to increase his antics.

Now, Loki gathered a bouquet of meadow flowers from their vase on Thor’s night stand and began sticking their stems into various places around Thor’s plump body.  A daisy in his hair, a hyacinth in his ear.  He put two daffodils in his nostrils and a chrysanthemum in his gaping mouth.  That was the one that did it.  Thor coughed and shook his head pulling away from the blossoms.  He sat up and batted his head until all the flowers fell onto the mattress.

Loki rolled onto his back and kicked his feet, giggling hysterically.  Thor scowled at his little brother in annoyance and whipped the daisy at him as hard as he could.  Loki stopped laughing with a great sigh, a smile splitting his pale face. 

“What do you want?”  Thor demanded.  Loki stopped laughing and stared at Thor quietly for a moment.  He had had a purpose for coming to Thor’s room.  It was important, too.  What was it?  “If there is nothing, then you should return to your own bed and leave me be.”  Thor grumbled settling himself back in the blankets.  His bedroom.  That had been it.

“There is a strange man in my bedroom.”  Loki declared.  Thor sat upright again and stared at Loki trying to determine whether he was being honest or this was some small piece of a larger prank.

“Why is there a strange man in your bedroom?”  Loki shrugged.  “What does he want?”  Loki picked at a scab on his knee and shrugged again.

“I think he wants to kill me.  I can’t be certain and I did not want to stay around and ask.”  Thor swallowed and looked at his door.  Loki had left it cracked open slightly so that the low glow of the hallway night lights seeped into the room in a thin line.

“Why did you not alert the guards or father or mother?”  Thor demanded.  He still had his suspicions about Loki’s honesty.  Loki wrapped his arms around his legs and settled his chin on his knees.

“Your room was closer.”  He mumbled.  Something moved in the hallway and Thor’s heart lurched into his throat.  He scooted himself to the edge of the bed as quietly as he could.  The moment his bare toes hit the cold stones of his floor, Loki’s small, cold hand slapped around his arm.  Thor looked back at him and Loki shook his head wordlessly, his blue eyes wide with terror.

If Loki was afraid, Thor could not afford to be.  He steeled himself and shook Loki’s hand away.  The door creaked open as Thor slipped over to an alcove in his room hiding all his toys.  Loki slid backwards off the bed and slithered under it.  He pulled an illusion over himself to make himself unseen.  Heavy steps started inside the bedroom and Loki could see two black, leather boots.  Not the boots of any palace guards or servants and certainly not the gilded footwear of either of their parents.

Loki didn’t think he had ever felt such acute fear as this.  His entire body had gone numb.  He focused on his spell and spun away from his physical body.  This frightening thing was not happening to him.  This was a show he was watching from afar.  He floated, unfeelingly, beneath the monstrous bed of his brother.  In his numbness, Loki wondered where Thor had disappeared to.

No sooner had he had the thought, then he spied the thick, bare leg of his big brother.  Loki scooted forward just a bit to get a better look.  Thor’s face was set.  Angry, almost.  The black boot of the stranger started to turn in Thor’s direction.  Loki quickly cast a similar invisibility illusion over Thor in a desperate attempt to save him from harm.  Thor was no help on that front.  He let out a loud bellow and swung something he had been holding in his hands.  He landed a hard whack on the stranger’s hip, but it didn’t have much impact.

The threatening stranger pulled the wooden sword out of Thor’s hands as though plucking a flower from the meadow.  With his other hand, the stranger gripped Thor around the throat and lifted him off his feet.  Loki’s mouth went dry and he fought back tears of terror.  The stranger tossed Thor’s wooden sword away and drew a dagger.  The cold, silver blade glinted in the moonlight leaving a sick feeling twisting in the brothers’ guts.

“Looks like I have finally caught you Odinson.”  The stranger’s voice was coarse and full.  It sounded as though his tongue was too big for his mouth.  Thor clawed at the stranger’s arm in frantic desperation.

“Lemme go, you ugly bastard!  You are not worthy to lay a finger on the mightiest son of Odin!”  Thor screeched.  Loki applauded Thor’s valiancy.  Loki could not claim to be able to do the same.

“Mightiest son?”  The stranger paused for a moment.  “Oh, right.  I need to find the little rapscallion brother of yours.”  The stranger took three steps and shoved Thor against the wall.  “After I have finished with killing you, that is.”  Loki burst from beneath the bed and hurled himself at the stranger’s knife-wielding arm.  The man seemed genuinely surprised at Loki’s sudden appearance.  Surprised enough to release his grip on Thor who dropped to the ground with all the elegance and grace of a sack of potatoes.

The stranger’s gloved hand snatched Loki’s hair and tore at him as Loki sank his teeth into the man’s arm.  Changing his tactic, the stranger released Loki’s hair and began punching him about the head.  Hard.  Loki unclamped his jaws from the strangers arm and tried to blink away the stars and then he was flying away, through the air until he hit the floor or the wall he wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t move any longer.  The air disappeared from his lungs and he lay limply on the floor watching helplessly as the stranger turned his attention back to his brother.

Thor stared back at Loki.  A numb expression hung on his face.  Loki worked a shallow breath into his lungs for a scream when the man’s hand fisted in Thor’s bed shirt.  No sound could be wrangled from Loki’s frozen throat.  Thor was not so shaken.  Fear had left him entirely.  Blind rage was quickly engulfing him.

Loki watched as Thor’s eyes turn white hot with electricity.  He heard the booming of thunder behind the blood rushing in his head.  Wind slammed viciously against the balcony doors shoving them open and shattering the glass against the walls.  Thor grabbed the stranger’s arm steadily.  His grip was fierce for a five year old.  His grip was fierce for anybody.  Lightning twisted and danced over his arms more prettily than Loki remembered from the receiving end.

“Nobody lays a hand on my brother.”  Thor growled.  A bolt of lightning jumped from Thor’s arm and struck the assassin.  He yelped in surprise and pain and released Thor again.  Thor stood before the assassin with his feet shoulder width apart and his hands curled into thick fists.

“What the Hel?”  Loki wasn’t afraid when he saw the lightning this time.  He was relieved.  Thor was going to save them.

Lightning shot from the sky through the balcony.  It tore a hole in the wall opening the space to the sky.  Another bolt shot down and laced its way around Thor’s body.  He was coated in the lightning like a second skin.  Thor lunged at the assassin and pulled even more lightning from outside to center on the assassin.  He went down with a pitiful scream and the room filled with smoke.

The door burst open and Odin appeared in the room flanked by a small army of palace guards.  Loki groaned from his place on the floor and struggled to push himself upright.  Odin didn’t spare a glance in his second son’s direction heading straight for the smoldering pile of ash that Thor was sitting atop.

“Be at ease, my son.”  Odin whispered to him.  Thor came back to the room like emerging from a haze.  He blinked at Odin in confusion, down at the mess beneath him, and around at the destroyed bedroom.

“I killed him?”  Thor whispered.  It was a heart wrenching sound.  As though something had broken inside of him.

“Come away now, Thor.  Come away.”  Odin lifted Thor into his arms and cradled him against his chest.  Loki squeaked from behind them.

“Father?”  Odin turned and looked down at Loki with suspicion.

“Brother, you’re alive?”  Thor sagged against their father in relief.  Odin knelt down and scooped Loki into his other arm carefully.  Loki whimpered as he twisted in an uncomfortable way.

“This is my fault.  I should have done more to protect you boys.”  Odin grumbled as he carried them through the palace.  Tears dripped down Loki’s cheeks and he bit his lip to keep himself from sobbing openly in front of his father.  Thor reached over and gently brushed his tears away.

“Safe.”  Thor murmured.  “We’re safe.”  Odin nodded in agreement.  He settled them on a bed in the infirmary and called for Frigga and a nurse.

“Oh, by the Norns!”  Frigga cried, rushing over to them.  She pulled them both close and covered them with kisses.  “I was so worried about you two!”  She announced, sitting back.  Thor could not meet her eyes.  He stared at his hands fisted together on his lap.  Loki had propped himself up against his brother.  He covered one of his hands with his own comfortingly.

“Loki is wounded.  That man beat him badly and threw him into a wall.”  Thor explained.  Frigga cupped Loki’s face between her hands.

“I would have a word with whatever monster had a mind to harm my precious boys.”  Frigga declared in a deadly tone.  Frigga moved Thor to another bed in the infirmary to sleep while she and a crew of healers worked to assess and heal Loki’s wounds.

When all was said and done, Thor and Loki were left in the infirmary to rest and recover.  Outside the doors, a platoon of guards stood vigilant.  Thor, unable to sleep, tiptoed across the room to Loki’s cot.  He climbed up and wiggled his way under Loki’s blankets with him.

“Brother?”  Loki mumbled sleepily.  Thor crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the ceiling.  Loki rubbed his eyes and blinked over at his brother.  “Something troubles you?”  Thor turned his face away from Loki.

“I keep seeing him.”  It was so soft Loki wasn’t sure he had heard him right.

“Who?”

“The man.  The killer.”

“Why?”  Thor turned to Loki in astonishment.

“Why?  Brother, I _killed_ him.”  Loki drew his brows together.

“He wanted to kill us both, brother.  He would have, too.  Killed me anyhow.  You saved us.  Saved me.”  Thor swallowed.

“But I killed someone.  Does that not make me as bad as him?”  Loki frowned.

“If you hadn’t killed him he might have killed both of us and who knows how many other people.  You did not kill someone you kept me and you and everyone else from dying.”  Thor nodded.  “You should rest, brother.  Everything will be alright.”  Loki said the words to comfort his brother, but knew that the only reason he was able to sleep himself was because of Thor’s presence.

“I am glad you were not more seriously injured, brother.”  Loki hugged Thor tightly.

“I am glad you were not killed.”  Thor returned Loki’s embrace and they both fell to dreams safe and comfortable in each other’s arms.


	17. Hammered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki finds himself in trouble once again and, as always, Thor is there to bail him out.

“Loki?” Thor wandered the halls of the palace in search of his younger brother. The last he had seen him he had been on his way to pilfer the kitchens for their sweets. He had a way of sweet-talking the cooks into giving him whatever he wanted. Thor thought they probably just felt bad for him. Even Thor thought he was far too skinny.

Thor traipsed into the kitchens and looked around. Cooks and scullery maids were scurrying around frantically in preparations for tonight’s feast but Loki was nowhere to be seen. Thor ducked down to look under the tables and had his hand stepped on by a passing cook. Thor hissed out a cry of pain and looked up at the cook accusatorily.

“Watch it!” The cook bellowed before looking down to see whom it was he had stepped on. His eyes boggled at the sight of the young crown prince. “A thousand apologies your highness!” He gasped out. Thor stood shaking his wounded hand.

“Worry not, cook, if you tell me where I might find my brother we can think no more on it.” The cook smiled placidly at the young prince.

“Thank you, your highness.” The cook paused and looked about the kitchen. “Though I do not know where your brother has run off to. Yura was sneaking him sweets but an hour ago though I no longer see him with her.” Thor frowned and nodded to the cook.

“I thank you for your assistance anyhow, cook.” The cook inclined his head respectfully in return as Thor turned and hurried back out of the kitchens. Thor decided to begin his search outside the palace. Loki loved the meadows. He would search there first.

He knew he was going in the right direction when he spied a towering figure looming over the trees lining the meadow. Thor tilted his head in amazement. Loki’s magical prowess had never been in question, but his level of skill was beyond what any eight year old Asgardian could accomplish. Even Frigga was impressed as Thor had heard her confess to a few of her ladies maids.

“Brother?” Thor called out as he came closer. Loki was spinning around under the belly of the monstrous deer. He was giggled wildly and wearing nothing save his undershirt. Loki stopped spinning and looked at Thor with the goofiest grin he had ever seen plastered on his face.

“My brother!” Loki cried throwing his hands up in the air. A timid smile crept onto Thor’s face in return. Loki stumbled over to him and tossed himself into Thor’s arms. “Listen to me. Listen to me. Are you listening? Okay, shut up so you can listen. Are you shut up to hear me?” Thor pushed Loki back and looked at him.

“Are you alright?” Loki giggled and nodded.

“Okay, okay, okay. Look. Listen. I found this little baby deer all the way out here and alone and I thought, ‘Aw. That poor baby cannot defend itself!’ Nobody should leave a little baby all by itself, Thor. Anyway, anyway I decided to help the little baby deer protect itself. Fawn.” Loki stopped and looked up at the belly of the deer.

“What? Fawn?” Thor asked trying desperately to keep up.

“It’s the name for a baby deer. It’s a fawn. He’s a fawn. She? She. Anyway I made her super big so nobody could hurt her and now she’s just standing there shaking. Nothing can hurt you anymore, Magnhild!” Loki dissolved into cackles holding onto Thor as though he were the only thing keeping him upright.

“Magnhild?”

“Well she needed a name.” Loki let go of Thor and started back under Magnhild’s belly.

“Brother?” Loki turned back to Thor and in the same moment, he lost his balance and fell landing straight on his back. Loki did not seem to notice his blunder as he answered Thor with a demure:

“Hmm?” Thor hurried over to his little brother and tried to pick him up.

“Brother, where are the rest of your clothes?” He demanded. Loki looked down at himself and shrugged.

“I think they walked away.” Loki replied easily. Thor shook his head at him.

“Brother, are you….”

“Am I what?” Thor paused. He had never seen his brother act so foolishly. So bizarrely.

“What happened to you?” Loki shrugged and leaned his face against Thor’s chest. “What were you doing before you changed Magnhild into a thirty foot tall monstrosity?” Loki mumbled against Thor’s chest making Thor push Loki away just to hear his answer. “What was that?”

“I ate some sweets Yura gave me and then I washed them down with a bottle of fire water that I found in the pantries.” Loki looked around himself with half lidded eyes. “Then I was in the meadows and I found the little Magnhild and made her big.” Thor shook his head and held his hand out as though to physically stop the words tumbling out of Loki’s mouth.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You drank fire?” He reiterated. Loki gave him an annoyed look.

“No. That would be stupid.” Loki rolled his eyes. “I drank fire _water_.” Thor stared at Loki without comprehending.

“What is fire water?” Loki waved his hand and an empty jug appeared beside them.

“That is what was in this jug. I thought it would be water, but it was hot. Ergo, fire water.” Loki frowned at the empty jug. “Spicy, but good.” He said and nodded to agree with himself.

“Brother, I think you may have drank father’s alcohol.” Loki frowned first at Thor then at the empty jug.

“That….” He raised a finger and stood with his mouth open for four seconds before continuing. “Would actually make a lot of sense.” Loki nodded agreeing with himself once again.

“Loki, there is a feast happening tonight! What are we to do? You cannot make an appearance in this state.” Loki looked down at his clothing or lack thereof.

“You are quite right, my brother. I will require pants.” Thor shook his head and grabbed Loki to still him.

“You need more than pants, Loki.” Thor argued. Loki frowned back at Thor.

“Yes, yes, and a tunic. I know.” Loki held up his hand and snapped his fingers. In the blink of an eye he was fully clothed. “All better.” Loki smiled drunkenly.

“No, _not_ all better. You are still drunk!” Loki sighed dramatically.

“There is nothing to be done about that. I am quite well actually.” Magnhild bleated above them and stomped her enormous hooves.

“If you are so okay, how about you put Magnhild back to her regular size so that she can be with her mother?” Thor demanded. Loki turned and looked blearily up at the fawn. He sighed and waved his hand through the air. Magnhild shimmered emerald green and began to shrink. In a matter of seconds, the enormous fawn was its normal size again.

“Better?” Loki grumbled. They watched the suddenly small fawn bleat again in terror before streaking off into the thick underbrush. “Hope she doesn’t get eaten.” Loki mumbled. Thor watched Loki bend to pick up the empty jug and barely caught him before he fell onto his face in the dirt. Loki giggled and let Thor support his weight.

“We should find mother.” Thor decided. Loki twisted away from him and danced further into the meadow.

“No!” He yelled back.

“Loki!” He stepped toward him and Loki turned and took off at a full sprint. “Stop! Brother! We need to go see mother!”

“No!” Loki yelled again. Loki slowed down a bit and let Thor get close before taking off again tossing another, “No!” Over his shoulder. This continued for longer than Thor cared to admit until Loki lost his balance again and went tumbling down a hill. Thor followed after him cursing the whole way.

“You complete and utter doorknob!” Thor bit out. Loki lay on his belly and giggled into the dirt. Thor reached down and hauled Loki to his feet. “We are going to mother.” Loki soured.

“I don’t wanna walk all the way back to the palace.” He moped. “It’s too far!” Thor rolled his eyes.

“It would not _be_ so far away if you hadn’t taken off like that.” He retorted dragging Loki back up the hill and starting across the meadow. Loki dug his heels into the dirt when they were midway across.

“I’m tired, Thor. I do not want to walk anymore.” Thor let out an annoyed growl.

“You often get on my nerves, brother, but never more so than you are right now.” For some reason that made Loki giggle again. “We are going to mother.” Loki lifted his arms into the air the best he could with Thor’s iron grip on one of them.

“Carry me!” He demanded. Thor quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Pardon?”

“Carry me!” Loki repeated more eagerly this time. “Carry me! Carry me! Carrymecarrymecarrymecarrymecarryme!” Thor growled again as he turned and threw Loki over his shoulder. Loki screamed excitedly and flailed around before finding a comfortable position.

Thor was panting by the time he reached the palace with Loki on his back. Loki sang the whole time, crazy and nonsensical songs Thor believed he was making up on the spot. Namely because Thor featured in a lot of his verses. Thor set Loki down in the foyer and urged him to be silent.

“Do you not like my songs, brother?” Thor sighed.

“Not when we are aiming to be covert.” Loki’s bottom lip trembled.

“I wanted to make you smile.” He whimpered. Thor patted Loki’s head.

“Shh, shh. It’s okay, do not cry, brother. I liked your songs, honest. I just need you to stop singing them for now.” Loki sniffled and nodded though still looking a little miserable.

“Prince Thor! Prince Loki! What are you two doing out here?” Lady Unn, Thor’s handmaiden exclaimed. Thor jumped and tried to hide Loki behind him in vein. Lady Unn did not inspect them too closely, nor did she wait for them to answer her. “You are required in the banquet hall. Your father and mother are waiting for you.” She turned them for the banquet hall and ushered them inside near the head table.

“A-ha!” Odin shouted. “My sons have arrived at last!” Thor swallowed heavily and gripped Loki’s wrist tightly. “Where have you been, my boys? We have all been waiting for you.” Thor cleared his throat and tried to think of something.

“We were in the meadow with Magnhild.” Loki announced. Thor winced.

“Magnhild?” Odin parroted. He looked over to Frigga who was sat “Who is Magnhild?” Frigga shook her head slightly and squinted down at Loki.

“A deer. A baby deer. A fawn. She is giant now. Wait, no. Thor made me make her small again. I hope she is not eaten.” Frigga beckoned Loki over to her and placed her hand on his forehead.

“Loki, my sweet, are you unwell?” Loki giggled at her question.

“He is fine, mother. Loki is only…excited.” Loki looked over at Thor who gave his brother a stern look. Loki looked sheepishly back to his brother.

“Yes, mother. I am very excited.” Frigga nodded and Odin let the matter drop.

“Very well, we shall all take our seats and fill our bellies!” Still standing, Odin raised his glass of wine. “A toast to our valiant warriors. May their blades always be wet with the blood of Asgard’s enemies.” The hall buzzed with a chorus of voices harkening: “Here, here!” Before downing their cups of wine.

“Loki, do you realize how much trouble you will be in if father discovers you have been into his liquors?” Thor hissed as he dug into his great plate of food. Loki picked at his mutton absently and shrugged in response. Thor harrumphed and decided to ignore him until his belly was full.

A few minutes later, Thor peaked over at his little brother who had still barely touched his heaping plate of food. Thor swallowed his mouthful and nudged Loki. Loki looked over and Thor noted that his face had gone ghost white. Thor touched Loki’s forehead as Frigga had done and noted that he was unusually hot.

“Brother?” Loki moaned deep in his throat. “Are you alright?” Loki shook his head. “What’s –“ Loki turned his head to the side and spewed his stomach’s worth of sweets onto the floor by Frigga’s feet. Frigga leapt up and tugged her skirts away from the mess.

“Oh, Loki!” She cried. Odin stood, too, beckoning a group of maids to come clean up the mess. Frigga pulled Loki into her arms and felt his face again. “You are burning up! What in the Nine Realms happened to you?” Loki whimpered against Frigga’s chest.

“I drank the fire water.” He moaned. Thor stood up with them, his food seemed infinitely less palatable than before.

“Fire water?” Frigga asked. Loki nodded into her dress. Frigga looked to Thor for answers. Thor looked over at Odin wearily.

“He accidentally found a jug of father’s liquor and drank it.” Odin narrowed his eyes at Thor.

“How much of it did he drink?” Thor shrugged.

“All of it?” Odin’s eyes boggled.

“All?” He grabbed Loki’s chin and forced him to look into his eyes. “All?” Loki teetered in Frigga’s arms, leaned forward, and let another bought of his stomach contents fall onto the floor at Odin’s feet.

“Bad spicy.” Loki muttered falling back against Frigga.

“And you, Thor?” Odin growled.

“Me?”

“How much did you drink?” Thor held up his hands and shook his head.

“None, father. He had already downed the contents of the jug when I found him.” Odin regarded Thor suspiciously. “I swear it, father.” Thor promised.

“I will take the boys to their rooms and look after them.” Frigga told Odin.

“Frigga, we have guests.” Frigga smiled and put her hand on Odin’s arm.

“And they will fair just as well with you here and us away.” She assured him. “The only thing to drive them away may be Loki’s continued vomiting.” Odin sighed and nodded.

“Very well, my queen.” Odin conceded.

Frigga fed a stomach soother to Loki before tucking him into bed. He fell asleep the minute his blankets were around him. She turned to Thor standing beside her and lifted him onto the mattress. Thor looked at his mother in confusion.

“You are to stay here and keep an eye on your little brother while he recovers. The alcohol he drank is enough to put the fiercest warrior flat on his back with a single sip and Loki here drank an entire bottle.” Frigga pushed back Loki’s ebony hair. “He will not be fully recovered for many days.”

“But he will be alright?” Frigga nodded.

“I am going to make him a soother to try and alleviate some of his symptoms and you are to watch over him until I return.” Thor nodded dutifully.

“Mother?” Thor called to her as she left.

“Yes, my son?” Thor looked at Loki and then down at his hands.

“Father is not going to punish Loki is he? It was a genuine mistake.” Frigga smiled.

“I believe your father thinks Loki is being punished enough now as it is.” Thor’s shoulders sagged in relief. His brother was safe.


	18. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki begins to formulate the plan for his greatest trick of all (so far).

He always felt so different. Literally the black sheep of the whole golden-haired family. The more he watched his brother succeed and become widely adored by the whole of Asgard – the whole of the Nine Realms – the stranger he felt. He imagined there might have been a time when he didn’t feel this way. When he was the son of Odin and Frigga and the brother of Thor and the prince of Asgard and nothing was strange or unusual about him at all.

Any potential memory of those days were blotted out by the bright light of his brother and the even greater shadow he cast. Loki sat in the darkness of his brother’s shadow and wondered at the point of his existence. Thor was the crown prince. He was the god of thunder. He was the best fighter Asgard had seen since their grandfather, Bor, had stood on the battlefield. Perfect, beloved Thor. Loki couldn’t help but wonder at his purpose.

Odin held nothing if not disdain for him. No matter how hard he tried, Odin only ever seemed to have time for Thor. Could only pay attention to Thor. Was only ever proud of Thor. If Odin had felt so impartially toward him, why hadn’t he simply cast him out? Sent him to live with peasants on the outskirts of the kingdom. Or shipped him out to one of the Nine when he came of age. Why keep him here to wallow in the shadow of his brother’s glory?

The answer, of course, was Frigga. His mother. His saving grace. The only thing that made his differences bearable. She was almost the polar opposite of Odin. She expressed pride in just about everything Loki accomplished. Though she was not adverse to scolding him over a prank he pulled or some catastrophe he had caused that had been intended as a joke, but had somehow gone awry.

The pranks were the only time Odin acknowledged Loki. And the more destructive the prank, the better. Loki once turned every Aesir in the palace into fluffy bunnies on a banquet night. Then he turned Thor into a fox for good measure. Loki was confined to his bedchambers for two months after that. It was nearly a decade later that Frigga admitted to how impressed she had been with his capabilities.

Thor used to love Loki’s magic. They could stay up until dawn laughing while Loki filled the air with his magic. Now, Thor was more annoyed at Loki’s powers. He tolerated it when he found it useful. Like when he cloaked them both in a thick smoke during a battle on Nornheim. But did Thor thank him? Did he even acknowledge Loki’s contribution to their success? No. He kept his glory for himself. Let Odin continue to think that Loki was just as useless on the battlefield as he was off it.

Loki resented Thor. He couldn’t believe it when he finally admitted it to himself. Found himself feeling filthy and worthless for having the thought and even more so when he realized how true the sentiment held. Loki loved Thor. To discover a resentment towards him was profound and frightening. But when he tried to uncover just where such a negative feeling had come from, Loki could not pinpoint an hour, a day, or an incident.

Thor’s cockiness, his infuriating superiority complex, the fact that he had Odin’s unwavering support had all been building up for centuries. It no longer surprised Loki that he resented Thor. It surprised him that it had taken so long for him to notice it. But it hurt all the same.

Thor had always had Loki’s back. No matter what sort of shenanigans Loki managed to get himself in to, Thor would defend him to his dying breath. Until the day he didn’t. Until Thor took the side of everyone else. Until Thor and Loki against the world became Loki all alone.

Loki almost never felt cold. He took ice baths because warm bath water felt like it was melting the skin off him. He wore cloaks to blend in, but never actually needed them. But that feeling? That utter emptiness of being cast out and alone. Estranged from everyone he loved in ways he could not hope to understand. That feeling left him chilled to the bone in a way no fire or endless mountain of blankets could warm.

Nobody seemed to notice. Not the legions of servants bustling around the palace at all hours. Not his dearly beloved brother. Lord knows not his father. Not even his loving mother seemed to notice the shift.

Not even when they were all gathered together in the throne room. Odin sat on his gilded chair. Frigga stood to his right and Thor and Loki on the left. Loki noted that his father was in a peculiar mood. Some of his sternness had lifted from his heavy brow and he and Frigga kept sharing private looks.

“My sons, I have an announcement.” Thor straightened his back and flexed. Loki resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He mildly wondered if the act were a conscious one or if Thor didn’t even realize he did it. Making himself bigger in Odin’s presence.

“Oh, dear, do not frighten them.” Frigga admonished.

“Please, Mother, we do not scare so easily. We have seen the rages of war and I have slaughtered creatures that towered above me and seemed invincible!” Loki did not miss when Thor switched from inclusive to exclusive. The unavoidable implication that while Loki may have been present on the battlefield, he was not a warrior.

“Let me speak.” Odin barked. Thor pressed his lips together and lowered his eyes. Loki wished he didn’t think that Thor deserved it. “I have made a decision about the throne. A decision about who is to be my successor. The next king of Asgard.” Odin stopped and let his words hang in the air. Loki probably got his flair for the dramatics from his father.

He looked at Thor. His jaw was clenched. His fists were curled so tightly that his knuckles were white. Thor had been waiting for this his entire life. He never spoke in terms of ‘if’ he were ever king as Loki had. He spoke as though it were a certainty. ‘When’ he was king. As though there had never been any other option.

Loki did not want to be king. He had had a slight inclination for the throne when he was a child. Thought it might have been nice to be as beloved as Odin. But the chore of it all put him off. Meetings and responsibility and duties that never ceased. All of it seemed like more work than it was worth. Odin could keep the throne for all eternity if he so wished and it would not bother Loki in the slightest.

“I have decided that after these long millennia of watching you grow and mature, that it was finally time to pass my title down to my legacy.” He smiled down at his sons. No. He smiled down at Thor. “In two weeks time, we will have a coronation were I will be crowning Thor the new King of Asgard.” Electricity zapped around Thor. Anger was not the only emotion that summoned his power. Excitement and happiness brought it on, too.

“I will make you proud, Father.” Thor swore earnestly. “Our enemies will quiver beneath Asgard’s power.” Loki could think of nothing worse than Asgard being subjected to Thor’s extreme temper tantrums. The Nine Realms would fall into chaos faster than anyone could blink.

“Congratulations, brother!” Loki crowed with feigned joy. He patted Thor’s oversized shoulder and beamed at him.

“Worry not, brother. When my reign comes I will appoint you to my council.” Loki kept his face. “Along with Fandral, Hogan, and Volstagg, of course.” Loki’s smile dropped. “And, of course, Sif.” Loki cleared his throat and nodded.

“I can hardly wait.” Frigga smiled placidly at Loki. As though she saw straight through his act. As though she knew the boiling antipathy loosely tethered under the surface. He needed to escape from her scrutiny. “If you will all excuse me, I have left a particularly interesting book. If I am to be the future King’s council, I should expand my mind as much as possible.” Loki inclined his head respectfully before stepping away from his family.

Thor couldn’t be king. He wasn’t ready for that much responsibility. Odin didn’t know that. He didn’t know half of what Thor got up to on the battlefield. Or he did and chose to ignore it. He probably thought the way he spoke to his fellow soldiers was diplomatic. That telling them all that they were useless and that any enemies they managed to slaughter were gifts he purposely let wriggle free of his mighty fist to make them feel as though they were contributing.

Arrogant.

Self-serving.

Conceited.

Entitled.

Brat.

Maybe if it were Thor on the disapproving end of Odin’s tirades it would knock him down a peg and shrink that oversized ego he had. The thought gave him pause. Now _that_ was an idea. It was a terrible idea. It was a brilliant idea. It was still only half-baked. But it definitely had potential. Of course, if Thor ever found out he would never forgive him. This was to be his big moment.

Loki shook himself. Every moment Thor had was a big moment. He was the center of everyone’s attentions. Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogan looked at him as though he were the be all end all of godly perfection. Sif looked at him…well, she looked at him with a desirous lust that she had never shown Loki. Odin and Frigga both treated him as though the sun rose and set by his command. It was sickening.

That sealed it. Thor didn’t need another ‘big moment’. He needed an ego check. He needed to be brought down a peg and the surest way of doing that was to throw it back in his face. The most brilliant part of Loki’s plan was that he was going to get Thor to do everything to himself.

Loki split an illusion of himself away to continue for the library. In the same instant, he shape shifted into an Aesir and headed for the vehicle depot. Nobody questioned what he was doing there. To everyone else he was a perimeter guard going on patrol. Nobody had ever bothered to check that there were only three guards set to go out at any time. Nobody thought anything about the fact that their fourth patrol guard looked suspiciously like the same Aesir assigned to the East Wing’s garden entrance. They were all just so disgustingly trusting.

Loki had started borrowing airships on sunny afternoons when he was particularly bored. In a place as boundless as space, Asgard felt like a prison. Loki knew every Asgardian, every room in the palace, and every blade of grass in the meadows. He hungered for a new adventure.

He used the airships to reach the furthest edges of the kingdom. To explore the previously unexplored. The only way to get away with it was to conceal himself from the all-seeing eye of Heimdall. A feat he spend three millennium perfecting and another millennia making sure that any double he conjured to pass off as himself couldn’t be seen through. Loki could make himself completely undetectable. A scary and formidable weapon for any trickster to possess.

Loki piloted himself to the wall of rock at the furthest edge of Asgard expertly. At first, he had thought it was just a cave. Nothing especially fascinating about it. At least until he discovered its true potential. It was a secret gateway to the other realms and more. The only down side was the exit changed with little to no rhyme or reason. One minute it might open into Nornheim, the next it might be Midgard. For this, his most devious prank yet, he would need the gate to open where he wanted it to.

Jotenheim.


	19. I Hate Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki has a nightmare and Thor embarrasses him.
> 
> And it's STILL a happier chapter than what I feel currently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's short and not altogether great, but if I didn't force myself to finish it, it would have been left unfinished and unpublished and forgotten.
> 
> So I just watched Infinity War and I think I'm going to need a break from Marvel for a bit after that. (Also why this chapter is so short and... yeah) I don't usually write fanfiction that completely deviates from cannon, but HOO BOY is it looking like that's about to happen! (If I write anymore Marvel fic at all) I am just so completely drained.

“Brother!” Loki shouted into the silent stillness of the night. His muscles ached as though he had been using them intensely. He looked around himself. He was in his room. If he checked, he would likely find Thor snoring peacefully in his own bed down the hall.

He pushed the blankets off of himself. It was too hot. Hot, but he was shaking. Loki scrubbed his hands down his face and tried to forget the horrors of his dream. The images. The imagined words. He prayed they were nothing but rueful imaginings dreamt up by an idle mind.

He looked up as the door opened and the bright light of the halls streamed into the room. He squinted up at the hulking silhouette framed by his doorway. Candlelight lit his fair hair like a halo. His savior.

“Are you alright?” Thor asked in a half-whisper. Loki rubbed the back of his neck and tried not to think about his insecurities.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?” Thor sighed and shut the door carefully behind him. Loki swallowed nervously as he watched Thor approach his bed. He put a knee on the bed and the mattress shifted. Thor’s big hand came up to cup the back of Loki’s head. Thor squinted into Loki’s eyes calculative and full of suspicion.

“Was it a nightmare?” He demanded as though he already knew the answer. Loki brushed Thor’s hand away and scoffed.

“I’m fifteen. I do not have nightmares.” He postured. Thor dropped his weight onto the bed and put his hand to his forehead.

“You don’t have to lie, Loki.” Loki bristled.

“I am not lying.” He lied. Thor shook his head.

“What was it about?” He continued as though Loki hadn’t said anything. Loki gritted his teeth.

“A big, blonde, annoying idiot coming into my room in the middle of the night and harassing me.” Thor frowned.

“I only want to help, brother.”

“I don’t need your help.” He snapped. Thor was quiet for a moment. Loki tried to think of something to say that might alleviate the tension. Soothe some of the acid he had affected in his tone. Before he could form a cohesive sentence in his head, Thor nodded once to himself and withdrew from the room.

In his nightmare, Thor had been the one to betray him. Loki was caught in a precarious position. Jotuns surrounded him on the icy tundra of Jotunheim. The boom of thunder made him hopeful. He relaxed as he saw his brother move through the swarm of Frost Giants confidently. Loki smiled as his brother approached, confident and ready for a brawl.

It didn’t strike Loki as odd that the Jotuns moved out of Thor’s way. That he spared them barely even a glance as he strode to the center of the swarm where Loki stood outnumbered and fatigued. That a glower was permanently pressed onto his face as he stared solely at Loki.

“Brother!” Loki had cried with relief as Thor came to a stop before him. “I am relieved to see you! As you may notice, I am a bit outnumbered.” Thor raised a mallet-like fist to the sky. Instantly, a bolt of white-hot lightening dropped from the sky to cover Thor like a second skin.

“You are not one of us.” Thor growled in a voice garbled by electricity. Loki’s smile fell then. Confused. Hurt. Then the panic set in as the Jotuns reached out and held him down. Their hands on his body hurt. His chest squeezed with fear.

“No, wait!” Loki had cried in desperation. Thor’s fist arched down toward him. “No, please! Brother!”

Something was wrong with him. Thor would never betray him. To even passively think such a thing was beyond ridiculous. He sighed and flopped back against his pillows.

 

 

“I heard you had a bad dream last night.” Loki curled his hands into fists. _That traitor_! Sif patted his shoulder comfortingly. “I am here if you need to talk.” Loki slammed the side of his fist down onto his schoolwork in frustration unintentionally causing ink to leap out of his inkwell and splatter onto his parchment. Sif frowned at him.

“I do not need to talk. I did not have a nightmare. I am going to wring Thor’s neck.” Loki growled.

“It’s nothing terrible for Thor to be concerned about his brother.” Sif argued. “You obviously wouldn’t talk to him and he knows how close we are so he assumed you might find it easier to talk about this matter with me.” Loki crumpled his ruined parchment and threw it across the room. As it flew, he transfigured it into a dagger. It soared through the air straight at the back of Thor’s big blonde head on the other side of the room. “ _Loki_!” Sif hissed.

Loki released his magic and the crumpled wad of paper fell just short of his brother. The trio didn’t even look up. Apparently their history studies were impossibly fascinating to them. Sif was glaring at him now. He rolled his eyes.

“I wasn’t going to hurt him.” Sif shook her head and stared down at her book instead of responding. “He probably wouldn’t have even felt it.” He muttered. “His skull is so thick he doesn’t even need a helmet half the time.” Sif sighed and looked up from the text again.

“It isn’t as though he told everyone you lost your virginity to a stallion.” Loki didn’t think he could become any angrier.

“Choose your next words carefully, Sif. You may be my friend, but there is only so far you can push me.”

“If you let me make my _point_ , Loki.” He said nothing so she continued. “I don’t know if you know this, but after that rumor started, Thor went around punching everyone that so much as drunkenly uttered the words in the face until they stopped. Did you not notice how quickly the rumor died?” Loki wrinkled his brows together. “And remember a few months ago in the marketplace when you tried to talk that fire demon out of a fight with Fandral in his native language and wound up being dangled over a volcano on Muspellheim? “

“I am still not getting your point, Sif, and to be honest you are making me angry.” Sif sighed dramatically.

“I am saying that your brother is _always_ concerned about you and he is _always_ there to pull you out of any trouble you find yourself in. So maybe in this instance you could show a little gratitude and compassion. Even a fraction of what he shows you every day.” Her words made sense and Loki might have been of a mind to hear them if she hadn’t soured his disposition so thoroughly in making her point.

“My brother has no business interfering in anything I do. He is nothing but a nuisance to me.” Loki stood quickly causing his chair to topple back onto the floor. Thor, Volstagg, and Fandral looked curiously over at the noise from across the room.

“Going somewhere, Loki?” The instructor demanded from her seat at the head of the table.

“Anywhere else is preferable to here.” He snarled.

“How un-princely.” She huffed. Loki shut his eyes and took a breath. Slowly, he turned and knelt to pick the chair up and slide it under the table neatly.

“I apologize, Madame, I would like to be excused for the day if at all possible. I think it might suit me to spend time with my mother to learn for a bit.” The instructed eyed him suspiciously for a few minutes before dipping her head.

“You are excused. Please read on the birth of Yggdrasil and write a summary on it to turn in to me tomorrow.” Loki listened and nodded on his way to the door. He was already in the hall by the time she finished her sentence.


	20. Double Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor ends up in a bunch of trouble because he is so air-headed he doesn't think of the one shred of evidence that would have cleared his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER!! I have successfully erased an entire film from my mind like taking paper to a chalkboard. It's exactly what it sounds like. I lost big parts but the snippets are still there. For example, the loose inspiration for this chapter. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thor was climbing the side of the palace for several reasons. First and foremost, he liked to be up high. Second, it boasted the greatest view of Asgard in all of Asgard. From the highest tower he swore he could see the heart of the Worlds Tree. Finally, climbing up five hundred feet on mostly smooth palace walls was perhaps the greatest workout one could ask for. It took every muscle in his body working together just to keep him from slipping down the gilded walls and plummeting to his death. Well, muscles and an incredible level of focus.

He was about midway up when he spied hurried movement near a garden wall far below him. He might have ignored it. Might have managed to keep his footing if he hadn’t been born with the eyesight of a falcon. Instead, he lost his focus and his footing and began slipping and sliding down the side of the palace.

He grappled desperately for anything that might slow or stop his descent. The ground was coming up fast and he felt his gut twist and his throat tighten. His feet slammed into the small edge of an archway and the force reverberated up through his body jarring him.

Thor sighed with relief and took stock of his surroundings. He was on a ledge with no more than a twenty feet drop to the ground below. He stepped off and caught his body weight on his fingertips suspending himself in the archway.

“Prince Thor?” A guard called. He could hear worry in his voice. Thor laughed. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what he was doing.

“Hello. Beautiful day, no?” He called back, still dangling from the ledge. He looked down and saw the guard being joined by three more guards.

“How did you get up there, your highness?” One dared ask.

“How do you think, you fools?” Thor shouted back. “I climbed!” The guards turned to one another and began whispering frantically about what they should do. Thor rolled his eyes and released the ledge dropping the few feet to the ground. The guards jumped in surprise and looked from the top of the arch where seconds before he was dangling to where he stood now on the ground.

“Are you hurt?” One demanded. Thor rolled his eyes again, directly at the guard.

“Of course I am not.” In truth, Thor knew the soles of his feet would be blackened with bruise for the next day or two. His legs still vibrated with the force of not one, but two great impacts and his fingers would be stiffened for the next few hours. But he didn’t have time to worry about that now. “I bid you all good day, but I must be going now.” Whatever was near the garden walls needed dealing with.

It was a short jaunt from where Thor had fallen to the gardens, but it felt like a marathon. Each step begged agony from Thor’s body. But the alternative was to admit he had injured himself doing something reckless and there was no way in the Nine Realms that was happening.

When he at last reached the gardens, he went into a crouch. It hurt worse than running, but Thor gritted his teeth and pushed through it. A ways in, Thor began to notice the heads of flowers littering the ground. He lifted a shrub rose from the path in front of him and examined the end. Someone had cut it. Someone had cut all of them.

Thor crept closer. The soles of his feet screamed at the weight of him. He stopped when he heard voices. Then inched forward until he could make out what they were saying.

“ – think you were doing!? Do you know how long it took to cultivate each and every one of these flowers?” Thor recognized the voice as one of the gardeners, Garth. “They were planted long before you were a twinkle in your father’s eye!” There was a pause. “All my hard work. _Years_ of slaving in the hot sun day in and day out. _Wasted_!” Garth sobbed.

“They are just plants. It isn’t as though they will never grow back.” Thor felt his tongue fill his mouth. The voice replying to Garth couldn’t possibly be who he thought it was. There was simply no way. Impossible didn’t even begin to cover it. But there was no mistaking it. He heard it every single day for his entire life because _that_ voice coming from across the garden was his own.

“You wait here. I am going to fetch your father.” Garth ordered.

“What does _he_ care? Like I said, they’re just a bunch of plants.”

“Perhaps I shall go straight to your mother then, shall I Prince Thor?” Thor’s legs gave out beneath him and he dropped onto his butt. Slowly he worked through how this was possible. Unless he had died falling from the palace and this was some sort of test to allow admittance into Valhalla. Was he dead?

His legs throbbed with pain and he decided that wasn’t it. You are not meant to feel pain in death. So what was this? He waited for Garth to leave before confronting his imposter.

Standing was excruciating. His sudden anger was dulling the pain. If this person wanted to be him so badly, he would have to defeat the _real_ him. Thor stepped out from behind the hedge and into the clearing. It was unsettling to look at one’s own face outside of reflection. Even more unsettling to hear yourself speak words you have never said. Words like:

“Oh, hello, Thor!” Thor walked a slow circle around his doppleganger. Hunting for a flaw. A strand of hair that was just a little too blonde or a fingernail that was a fraction too long. Anything that might separate the two Thors. Anything that meant that this wasn’t some rogue clone of his.

“Who are you?” Thor demanded in his best intimidating voice. An expression Thor was certain he had never made crossed his face. Or. It crossed his imposter’s face. It was all very confusing.

“Is it not obvious?” Thor Number Two said. “I am you.”

“You are not. I am the only me there is. You are… someone who looks and sounds like me.” His argument was weak and he knew it. “But you definitely are not me.” Thor Number Two smiled at him placidly as though he were a child that did not know his alphabet.

“If I’m not you, then how do I know everything you are going to say before you say it?” Thor Number Two asked. Thor gaped at him for a second before shaking his head dismissively.

“You do not.” He said. But his voice echoed and Thor Number Two’s lips moved at the same time as his own. The same words falling from the imposter’s mouth as the ones falling from his own.

“Do not mock me.” They said in tandem once more. Rage was building in his gut.

“Stop this at once!” He barked and, in the same tone, his imposter mimicked.

“I am the son of Odin! You will not treat me in this manner!” Both Thors shouted. Storm clouds rumbled overhead. _At last_ , Thor thought to himself, _something the imposter cannot_ …. His thoughts ended as he spied thick, black storm clouds forming over his imposters head. Meshing with his own. Lightning jumped around his forearms dangerously. Thor looked down at his own arms, laced with electricity. He had had enough. Thor charged the doppleganger and tackled him to the ground.

Thor Number Two hadn’t been expecting that. He yelped in a very un-Thorlike manner as his back slammed into the ground. A green shimmer slid over his body and Thor’s face melted away to reveal Loki’s. Thor sat back on his brother’s stomach, pinning him to the ground.

“Loki?” His brother gave him an easy smile and chuckled as if to say, _it was all in good fun, brother! Please don’t hurt me._ “What the Hel are you doing?”

“Just a bit of fun, brother.” Thor scowled.

“Fun? Impersonating me is fun?” Loki laughed again.

“More fun than being myself all day.” He joked. Thor’s brows knit together concernedly. His brother often made jokes of that nature. They always concerned Thor.

“Why did you cut up the flowers?” Loki looked around the garden as though he had completely forgotten the scolding he had been given minutes before. Loki shrugged.

“Casualty of accuracy practice.”

“What?”

“I was practicing with my daggers.” He snapped a dagger into his hand as he said it. “Throwing for accuracy.” He pulled his arm back and flung the dagger across the clearing where it sliced through the stem of a flower before disappearing and reappearing in Loki’s still outstretched hand. “See?” Thor nodded.

“Impressive.” Loki grinned at the praise.

“Thank you. Now, would you mind getting off of me? You weigh a ton.” Thor looked down, surprised to realize he was still sitting on Loki’s stomach. He stood and helped Loki up, patting him on the shoulder. Loki brushed stray pieces of grass and dirt from his clothing. He looked up at the now cloudless sky. Thor watched the smile drop from his face.

“What time is it?” Loki panicked. Thor crinkled his brow and shrugged.

“Midday, I suppose. Why?” Loki turned for the palace doors and began sprinting away.

“I’m late to meet Sif! We are meant to train together!” Loki called back over his shoulder just before disappearing from sight. Alone in the garden, he wandered over to a bench and put his feet up to rest them. Thor sighed and picked up a cut flower head and stroked its velvety petals between his fingers mindlessly.

“Here he is, Your Majesty!” Garth barked, startling Thor out of his thoughts. Frigga stood beside Garth frowning down at him.

“Thor, what have you done?” He had no clue what he had done or why his mother was looking at him with that disapproving stare. Or why Garth took such offense with him.

“I haven’t done anything, mother.” He remembered the archway. “The guards were overreacting.” Frigga pursed her lips.

“And Garth? Is Garth overreacting, too?” Thor looked at Garth. If he had been the god of thunder, the skies would be as black as night.

“I cannot imagine anything could possibly warrant such mire from a gardener.”

“Do you truly feel no remorse for your actions?” Thor shrugged.

“It was not as though I did not know what I was doing.” Frigga looked surprised and then angry. A dangerous combination. Thor swallowed and gave the situation all of his attention.

“So you knew as you methodically cut up all of my garden flowers that you were ruining twenty-five years of labor. You, in all your twelve-year-old intelligence, that by doing so you would be making a mockery of a quarter of a century’s worth of labor by Aesir that have lived one thousand of your lives. And you feel that this reprimand is nothing more than an overreaction?” Thor’s mouth went dry.

“I didn’t do this, mother!” Thor yelped. Frigga shook her head.

“Changing your tune now, young man, will not help you avoid punishment.” Thor stood up and held out the flower he had been toying with.

“This was all Loki! It was Loki practicing with his throwing daggers.” Garth frowned and shook his head.

“I think I would know the difference between your two sons, all-Mother. They are night and day in appearance _and_ personality.” Frigga looked back to Thor.

“Do you have any proof that it wasn’t you, Thor?” Thor looked down at the flower in his hand. There was nothing special about the cut. It could have been made by one of Thor’s own blades. Loki’s magic blades disappeared whenever he was finished with them so there was no evidence to prove that it had been Loki’s mischievousness that ruined the garden and not Thor’s.

“Only my word, mother.” Frigga nodded.

“At the moment, I’m afraid your word does not account for very much.” Thor nodded, glumly. “Return to your room and remain there until supper. I will speak with your father and decide what it is we should do about this.”

Thor walked into the palace resignedly. He may be paying for Loki’s tricks for now, but if his brother thought that he would get away scot-free he had another thing coming. Thor swore to the Norns that Loki’s payback would be unbearable.

_Enjoy your freedom for now, brother_. Thor thought as he closed his bedroom door behind him.


	21. Secrets and Smooches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki stars as a rapscallion kitten up to no good in this episode of Tricksters in Love. In order to win the heart of the fair maiden, Loki must compete with his charming and handsome older brother, Thor. Will Loki succeed? Will Thor use his muscles? Why is Loki a kitten? Who is smooching who? Find out tonight at 6/5c!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****SIFKI CONTENT****  
> ****PLEASE NOTE THAT IN THIS CHAPTER I HAVE USED TWO (2) NAUGHTY WORDS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.****

He liked attention. He liked to be cuddled. Not that he would ever admit that out loud to anyone. He had an image to uphold. No self respecting teenaged Asgardian boy would confess to something so undignified. Let alone a teenaged Asgardian prince. Luckily, Loki had worked up a magical loophole.

Being a kitten was more fun than being invisible. Invisible, people walked right past him without noticing. As a kitten, everybody stopped to coo at him excitedly. They gave him sweet things to eat or drink and scratched his back. They picked him up and snuggled him sweetly. Though that was the difference between shape shifting into a kitten and shape shifting into a cat. Kittens got snuggled, cats got shooed.

Loki moved through the palace easily. Though invisibility had its perks; overhearing gossip and secrets people didn’t think anyone was around to hear, as a kitten, people would often tell their secrets straight to his face never knowing that he was anything more than a kitten.

He was trotting past the training fields when he spied Sif still going at it. The trainers and other trainees had left hours before in search of food and mead. Sif twirled a heavy sword in her hands counter to the direction her feet moved and slashed slowly at the air before her. Loki sat down and watched her.

Sweat glistened on her forehead with the strain of her practiced movements. Her hair was tussled and coming free from its ponytail. Stray locks of jet black hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks, rosy from the exercise. Loki couldn’t force himself to move from his spot. The determination in her spectacular green eyes was entrancing.

The light was fading with the day making it difficult for Sif to see where she was stepping. He saw her foot heading for a rut likely formed on the grounds earlier that day. He shouted for her to watch out temporarily forgetting that he was a kitten and not a boy. Sif’s foot slid into the rut and stuck while the rest of her body kept moving. She let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground.

Loki wanted to turn back into himself to offer her some assistance, but he held back. Doing so would take away his anonymity and put an end to his kitten shenanigans. He would have to go back to sneaking around cloaked in an invisibility charm to get secrets and information. He also knew that turning back into himself would only serve to embarrass Sif who hastily wiped tears from her eyes and looked around to ensure that nobody had seen her last, clumsy move.

Loki scampered over to her after a few minutes of her sitting in the dirt. He sniffed at her sword first, playing coy as felines oft do. Sif smiled at him sweetly. She reached out a hand to him and let him sniff her before she tried to pet him. Loki shivered at her gentle touch. He purred so loudly he was embarrassed despite her having no clue who he was.

“Hello, little kitten.” Loki walked away from her outstretched hand to check her injured ankle. An additional benefit to being a kitten was the night vision. He could clearly see that it was already swelling. He put a paw on it and pressed gently, pushing a bit of his magic into the injury to alleviate the swelling and the pressure. Magic he used almost exclusively on himself after brawls with his brother.

“Ow, no, baby.” Sif scolded, picking him up and setting him on her lap. “I hurt myself, you see.” Sif told him. “You might have seen it.” She sighed dejectedly. “I have to train harder than the boys do. I have to be twice as good as any of them if I want any of them to consider me their equal.” She pet kitten Loki’s head gently as she rambled.

Loki listened interestedly. He had never thought to steal Sif’s secrets. Never really wanted to. He couldn’t imagine a greater betrayal of trust, but he was here now and Loki was nothing if not opportunistic.

“Especially Thor.” Loki bristled at the name and tried to tamp down the envy at his brother’s name on her lips. In her thoughts. Always. “He proves somewhat impossible to defeat. Whenever we spar, which is rare, he always comes out victorious. Except for the first time. But he threw that match I suspect out of pity.” Loki remembered that match, Thor had been against it from the start. Fandral and Volstagg had been sparring with Sif for weeks by then. Loki, even longer. The two buffons had thought to throw the match, too, but when they went up against her they found she was much more capable than they had given her credit for. Thor was different. By that time, he could bat Fandral and Volstagg around simultaneously with one arm tied behind his back. When the trainer suggested a match between Sif and Thor, Thor argued against it so furiously that he wound up standing on an upright log on one foot holding two five gallon buckets of water in his outstretched hands for three hours.

Sif didn’t say it, but Loki knew how much it had hurt her feelings to be thought so little of by someone she considered a close personal friend. In the end, it had been Loki to convince Thor to go through with the match. Then, after the obvious way Thor had thrown the fight, Loki convinced him once again to take any future spars seriously.

“But he hasn’t let me win since.” She declared fondly. “I have my suspicions as to why.” Loki tilted his head at her curiously. “His brother, Loki, is my best friend, you see. He is also very intuitive. He knows things about people that he has no reason to know. I sometimes think he can read minds just the same as he reads books.” She gazed down at kitten Loki. Her hand stilled on his head. “Come to think of it, you sort of remind me of him.” Fortunately, a strand of Sif’s dark hair fell forward and kitten Loki turned his attention to it and batted at her hair playfully. Sif giggled. “No, I don’t suppose he would indignify himself in this manner.”

She sighed and flopped back in the dirt. Loki started to walk up her stomach to her face, but quickly realized that in doing so, he would walk across her breasts. No matter how opportunistic he might be, that would be taking matters far too far. He jumped off her stomach into the dirt and trod over to her face.

“Sometimes I think Loki might be in love with me.” She murmured. Loki froze. Had he been so obvious? Sif shut her eyes and reached up to scratch Loki’s back softly. “My life might be much simpler if I could only love Loki the way I love Thor.” Loki knew why he never pried into Sif’s secrets. He had known them all along. In the sinking, heart breaking feeling he got whenever he saw Sif, he knew them all. He didn’t avoid her secrets out of respect, but out of fear. Denial. He didn’t want to hear her truths spoken out loud. Least of all by her. “Loki is cute. He ought to bathe more often, but he his admissible. He is funny and smart.” She rolled to her side and looked at kitten Loki in the eyes making him flinch. “But so is Thor.” Loki wanted to scoff. Thor was a buffoon. “Sure, most people think he’s all muscle and no brains, but he knows things. He listens to people. At least when he isn’t angry.”

“That temper!” Sif groaned. “Sometimes I want to just thrash him and outside of training he would let me.” She sighed and rolled back onto her back. “Because he’s also chivalrous and kind.” Loki looked across the training fields and saw the bane of his existence walking toward them.

“Who is that?” Thor called. Kitten Loki scampered away from Sif and hid behind a weapons rack. He didn’t really care to see this exchange, but he was already this far.

“Shit.” Sif hissed. She sat up and started to stand, but her ankle wasn’t fully healed yet and she collapsed back onto her butt.

“Sif?” Thor looked around the training fields. “Who were you talking to?” Sif flushed and looked around for kitten Loki who had disappeared.

“Um, nobody.” Thor stopped in front of her and squatted down to eye level.

“What are you doing out here?” Sif rubbed her knuckles against her cheek.

“I was training.” Thor set his elbow on his knee and rested his chin on his palm.

“You were training how to sit in the dirt?” He teased. Sif blushed. Kitten Loki couldn’t take it anymore and he would be damned if Thor was going to play white knight over him. He had been there first. He shape shifted back into his Asgardian form, certain nobody could see him and walked over to where Sif and his brother sat.

“Thor?” Loki called. “Sif?” Thor looked up and smiled brightly at Loki.

“I was looking for you!” Thor called. “Where have you been?” Loki feigned a yawn as he stopped in front of them.

“I was reading in the gardens and fell asleep.” Thor laughed.

“You should learn from Sif, she says she’s been here training all evening.” Loki scowled.

“Training your mind is just as important as training your body, brother.” He said coolly. Thor smirked.

“And how exactly is napping training your mind?” Loki shook his head and looked down at Sif.

“Lady Sif, did your invisible opponent strike you down? Or was that my boorish brother’s doing?” Sif looked between the brothers and shook her head.

“No, I… I stumbled in a bit of uneven dirt and I injured my ankle.” She explained. Thor looked down at her feet and quickly found the offending ankle though the swelling had gone down since Loki had put a bit of healing magic into it.

“We must get you to a healer.” Thor decided. He moved to pull Sif into his arms, but Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“I think you are forgetting something, brother.” Thor looked up, his arms already around her. His brow wrinkled together as Thor tried to remember what it was he was forgetting. “ _I_ can heal her?” Thor released Sif and Loki tried to ignore the disappointed look on her face.

“Oh. Right. Well, get to it then!” He ordered. Loki rolled his eyes again and crouched beside Sif.

“I expect a kiss of gratitude for this,” Loki announced half-joking as he placed his hands around Sif’s ankle. Even swollen, it was so dainty Loki’s long fingers could wrap all the way around it. His magic glowed green, illuminating the three friends in the middle of the darkened training field. At once, Sif’s ankle returned to normal. Loki let go and stood up watching her flex her foot experimentally.

He reached a hand down and helped her up. Thor clapped Loki on the back harder than necessary, but Loki was used to it and barely winced. “Excellent, brother! Your tricks have their usefulness!” Loki’s smile dropped in annoyance.

“I see your muscles were of little use in this instance.” Loki returned, “Maybe next time?” He smiled sweetly at his nemesis. Thor nodded.

“Father says I am due for battle before much longer.” Thor agreed, easily batting away the not-so-subtle insult with ease.

“That’s great, Thor!” Sif cheered. Loki turned his attention back to her.

“How does it feel, Lady Sif?” Sif rolled her eyes at the title.

“Much better. Thank you, Loki.” Loki grinned.

“Words are nice, but what about my kiss of gratitude?” He taunted.

“Oh, right!” Thor barked. Two meaty hands slapped on either side of Loki’s thin face and his head was yanked to the side where Thor slammed his closed lips against Loki’s. Loki struggled away from his brother’s iron grip. Ultimately, it wasn’t until Loki jumped up and kicked Thor in the gut with both feet that he broke away. The two brothers landed on their backs in the dirt. Loki quickly rolled to his feet spitting and cursing. Thor lay back a second longer roaring with laughter.

“What the _fuck_ , Thor?” Loki spit. Sif and Thor were laughing so hard it brought guards into the training arena. Loki scrubbed his hand back and forth across his assaulted lips.

“You are both terrible people.” Loki grumbled. “I’m going to bed.”

“I ought to be getting home, too.” Sif announced.

“Allow me to escort you.” Thor offered. Sif fixed him with a withering stare. Loki started to walk away, but kept glancing back at them over his shoulder. He stopped at the entrance to the palace and watched them.

“I will be fine, Thor. I do not need a protector.” Thor held up his hands in surrender.

“Of course you don’t, I was only trying to be a gentleman.” Sif scowled.

“Good night, Thor.” She sashayed to where Loki stood leaning against the archway with his arms crossed over his chest and stopped.

“Are you certain you do not wish for an escort?” Loki offered. Sif groaned.

“As I told Thor, I do not need a protector.” Loki grinned.

“Protector? Please. I was only offering the extended pleasure of my company. Wouldn’t want you to miss me longer than is necessary.” Sif giggled. Loki tilted his head at her. Sif put her hand on his chest and leaned up on her tiptoes to place a soft kiss on his cheek. Loki’s entire body turned to ice then stone.

“Thank you, Loki.” Sif murmured to him. Loki watched her go. He wished he could erase her secrets from his memory. Maybe he could have properly relished in her kiss.

“I think she likes you.” Thor announced suddenly beside him. Loki shook his head.

“No, she loves somebody else.” Thor scratched his chin, bristled with new stubble.

“How do you know?” Loki shrugged. “That does not mean all hope is lost.” Loki turned to his brother. He didn’t often offer advice and even rarer was good advice.

“No?” Thor shook his head.

“It just makes it more challenging.” Thor grinned at Loki and slapped him on the shoulder again. “Good night, brother. Sleep well.” Loki nodded.

“Sleep well. I’m going to go boil my lips now.”


	22. It's All Fun And Games....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki masquerades as Thor, Thor gets himself hurt, and Loki hurts Sif's feelings.

Loki liked being Thor.  It afforded him much more benevolence from the maids and the guards than being himself did.  He tried not to hold it against his brother.  It wasn’t entirely his fault that everyone seemed to gravitate toward him.  But Loki would be damned if he didn’t take advantage of the fact.

It had become a sort of hobby of his.  A game.  How long could he masquerade as his brother before people became suspicious?  How much could he get away with beneath this mask?  It always helped if he distracted the real Thor first.  Sent him off on some impossible mission that the buffoon would keep at for hours until he either completed it or nearly died trying.

That’s where Thor was now, though he assumed nobody knew it.  Loki had convinced him that if he drank the juice of a golden apple ripened under the moonlight on the highest branch of the tallest tree on the biggest waterfall, he would attain temporary invisibility. 

“Invisibility?”  Thor had said with an air of suspicion.  “Surely not.  Why would not everyone eat the apples all the time?”  Loki kept his nose pressed firmly in his book an assumed a bored tone.

“I don’t know, brother.  Possibly because the length of invisibility granted by each apple varies so greatly.  Maybe because the trek to reach the golden apples that must be ripened in Asgardian moonlight is so perilous and oft pointless that nobody bothers anymore.”  Loki held a hand up to his brother and used a powerful illusion to make it see through.  “Maybe they preferred finding alternative methods for invisibility.”  Thor scowled at Loki’s transparent hand.

“Few people are as gifted in magicks as you are, Loki.”  Loki beamed at the praise. 

“Few?”  Thor rolled his eyes.

“Mother may be the only one.”  Loki didn’t respond out loud, but he knew that his prowess had surpassed Frigga’s years before.  She often commented to him about it.  The only fault she found in his magick other than his uses for it, was his focus.  Casting spells always came so easy to him that most of the time he didn’t spend enough time perfecting each one.  Frigga knew he could do better, cast spells twice or even three times more powerful as what he was doing.  Loki didn’t understand why he should put more effort or power into spells that already worked just fine as they were.  It was the only true fault Frigga found in Loki’s skill. 

“Well, that settles it.  No need to go on some ridiculous quest for a magic fruit that might not even do what is promised.”  Loki closed the book he was pretending to read and set it on the end table to be filed away later.  He walked away to another bookshelf to peruse the titles while Thor tried to casually flip the book open to the page Loki had been reading from.

The entire entry had been falsified by Loki.  He had rearranged the letters and words on the page to read whatever it was he wanted them to say.  Thor was entirely too gullible.  It made tricking him into everything almost disappointing.  He didn’t need much to goad Thor into doing some crazy quest both on his own and discreetly.  No reason to potentially embarrass himself in front of his friends and subjects if he wasn’t certain of the outcome.  So away Thor had gone to hike clear across Asgard in search of this elusive fruit without telling a soul leaving Loki free to play at being him.

Loki stood on the training fields flipping Mjolnir in the air and catching it just as Thor did.  It wasn’t the real Mjolnir of course.  Loki had transfigured one of his daggers to look like Mjolnir and as long as no one tried to pick it up or catch it, no one would be the wiser.  Loki threw fake Mjolnir at a target and pulled it back before it made an impact.  He did this a few more times before movement behind him caught his attention.  He spun on his heel and flung fake Mjolnir at whoever was approaching, stopping it just in front of Sif’s face and pulling it back to him.

Thor Loki smiled at her and held fake Mjolnir at his side.  Sif looked as radiant as ever.  Her long, dark hair cascaded down over her bare shoulders.  She wore no armor which meant she had not come to train, but in search of someone.  Loki knew she had found who she was looking for by the look in her eyes.  Or, at least she thought she had.

“Lady Sif, I bid you good morning.”  Loki said in a perfect imitation of his brother’s rumbly voice.  Sif swallowed tightly and Loki held back a suspicious expression he knew Thor would not have.

“Good morning, Thor.”  She returned.  She started to say something more, stopped, and looked around instead.  Loki was burning with curiosity.  Just what was going on in that head of hers?

“What brings you to the training field so underdressed?”  Sif looked down at herself and brushed her hands against her skirts.  She flushed in the way she only did with Thor.

“I was not coming to train, but rather to ask you for your company.”  Loki Thor tilted his head to the side and regarded her.

“My company?  What for?”  Sif blushed more fervently.  Loki was beyond intrigued.   

“I have a few errands to run in town and was keen for some company.  I had hoped you wouldn’t mind being my escort.”  Loki considered this.  He brought his hand to his chin and scratched at the faux scruff decorating it.

“Would not Fandral or Volstagg be better company?  I do not think Loki is doing anything of importance and he would be more than happy to accompany you in town.”  Sif swallowed and shook her head.

“I….”  She chewed the inside of her cheek for a second.  “I already asked them, but it seems they are all busy.”  Loki was certain even his brother would not believe such an obvious lie.

“Is that so?”  Loki Thor frowned.  “Loki was only telling me a few moments ago about how he had nothing to do today.”  Sif shrugged.

“I suppose he made himself busy.”  As much as it was annoying Loki that Sif refused to be swayed away from a day with Thor, Loki was intrigued at the possibilities.  It might even be his chance to make Sif fall out of love with his brother.

“Very well, Sif.  Wait here while I change.”  Loki Thor wove his way through the palace halls until he was back in his bedroom.  He waved away the fake Mjolnir and changed from Thor’s armor to his casual wear.  He met Sif back in the practice arena wearing a dark blue cloak.  Sif smiled when she saw him coming back.  She had evidently been giving herself a pep talk of some kind while he was away.

“Ready?”  She breathed.  Loki Thor smiled patiently back at her and nodded.

“What do you need to do?”  He asked her conversationally as they made their way from the training grounds, through the palace, and out the front doors.  Sif kept twisting her fingers in the soft fabrics of her skirts.  A nervous tic Loki knew she was unaware of.

“I need to pick up my swords from being sharpened, I had planned on looking at a new horse I would love your opinion on, and I need a new dress for the banquet next week.”  Loki Thor nodded along with her list.

“The swords and the horse are no problem, but I am afraid I won’t be of much use selecting a dress.”  Sif shook her head.

“It isn’t much, just tell me if it makes me look abnormal or awkward.”  Loki Thor watched her hands fisting in her skirts over and over.  As though anything could make Sif look anything less than breathtaking. 

“In that case, I believe it should be dress first followed by the swords and wrapping up with the horse.”  Sif quirked a brow at him.  Loki Thor shrugged nonchalantly. 

“The swords and horse will be too cumbersome to worry about when trying on clothing and the swords will help us determine whether the horse will be a good fit or not.”  Sif smiled up at him.

“And people say you’re just a pretty face.”  Loki had to remind himself that Sif wasn’t talking to _him_.  She was speaking to Thor. 

“They say the same of you,” Loki Thor replied with a grin.  Sif’s smile drooped and she grew quiet.  Loki Thor looked down the crowded street.  Asgardians stepped carefully out of their way and inclined their heads to him respectfully.  Loki tried not to let it bother him.  So few people bothered to show him the same level of curtesy they gave Thor without a second thought.

“It’s through here.”  Sif turned to the right sharply forcing Loki Thor to spin on his heel quickly to keep with her.  He had evidently made her angrier than he thought.  Loki repressed a smile.  By the end of today, Sif would downright despise Thor.

The seamstress greeted Sif by name and boggled at the sight of Thor.  Loki gave him a cool nod before occupying himself with the other garments set up on mannequins around the store.  Loki had been in the shop many times before as it was Sif’s preferred dressmaker.  She usually dragged him along when no one else would go to try on hundreds of dresses Gorrin had designed. 

“I’m going to try this on, I’ll be right back.”  Sif told him before disappearing behind bright yellow curtains with a fleet of handmaidens.  A few minutes later she emerged in an ice blue gown that made her raven hair and bright green eyes stand out.  Loki Thor tightened his jaw.

“What do you think?”  Sif asked, smiling prettily.  Loki Thor shrugged.

“It makes you look a bit sickly, don’t you think?”  He told her.  Sif’s face paled and she looked over at herself in the mirror.  Loki thought she might fire back with some sort of jab at his insolence, but she just pet her hands down the fabric and sighed at her reflection.

“Yes, I suppose so.”  She turned back through the yellow curtains and returned wearing a red dress with gold accents and a plunging neckline.  She looked like a vixen making Loki’s heart race.  “Is this better?” 

“You look like a courtesan.”  Loki Thor looked away.  “Besides, red really is _my_ color, don’t you think?”  Sif fidgeted with the neckline in silence before turning quickly away.  It went on this way for four more dresses before Sif gave up entirely.

“I think I’ll come back later.  I have a week until the banquet to find something just right.”  Loki Thor scrunched up his face the way his brother did when he was baffled by something he didn’t quite understand.

“Why come back later when we’re both here now?”  Sif shook her head already half out the door.

“Nothing was working for me today.”  Loki Thor shrugged.

“I wouldn’t say that.  You looked fine in all of them.”  He watched Sif clench her jaw and bit his cheek to keep from laughing.

The sword sharpener looked ecstatic to see the crown prince around his whetstone.  He smiled excitedly as he pulled Sif’s twin swords from their sheathes to show off his handiwork.  Loki Thor was determinedly unimpressed.  He hemmed and hawed about how she should have just taken them to the forge master at the palace and let him sharpen them.

“You should relieve yourself of these blades altogether, Sif.  You have been training for decades.  Surely you are more than ready for swords with a bit more weight.”  Both the sword sharpener and Sif grumbled quietly about how the work was agreeable anyway.

“I think I might just take my swords home now, Thor.  Thank you for accompanying me today.”  Sif told him politely.  Loki Thor would not be deterred so easily.  He pulled the swords from Sif’s arms and flung a heavily muscled arm around her shoulders.

“Nonsense, Lady Sif!  You had a horse you wanted to look at, too.”  Sif shrugged out from under Loki Thor’s arm and took her swords back.

“I’m actually not feeling that well and think I might need to go lie down for a bit.”  Loki Thor gave her a concerned look and patted her shoulder.

“Then I will escort you back to your house.”  Sif shook her head.

“No, no.  I have occupied enough of your time for today I think.”  Before he could argue any further, Sif turned and disappeared into the crowded market street.  Loki’s jokes weren’t as funny to him after watching Sif run away so deeply distressed.  There wasn’t much he could do about it now.  He kicked at the cobblestone and turned back to the palace.

The real Thor’s low chuckle sounded from the palace foyer so Loki Thor ducked behind a tree and dropped his illusion before walking inside.  He flinched at the sight of his brother sat on a chair with two handmaidens and Frigga flittering around him.  Thor laughed and batted their worrying hands away.  Half of his face was covered in dark red blood and a large gash ripped up his left forearm.  He spotted Loki and stood.

“Loki!  Where have you been?”  Loki curled his upper lip back in disgust.

“What happened to you?”  Loki asked at the same time Thor wrapped his uninjured arm around his shoulders and squeezed tightly.  _Don’t say another word_ , the squeeze meant. 

“I already told Mother we were out at the waterfalls training together so it’s too late to weasel your way out of this one.”  He crowed.  Loki pushed Thor away lightly.

“Please do not bleed all over me.”  Thor backed up slightly, still smiling.

“Loki,” Frigga said, “what exactly were you two up to?”  Loki looked at Thor with irritation and rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.

“We were out training at the waterfalls.”  Thor mouthed the word trees.  “Thor thought it would be a good idea to climb the trees there.”  _Branch broke_ , Thor mouthed.  “This oaf didn’t take his size into account and the branch he was standing on snapped so down he went.”  Thor frowned at the wording, but he couldn’t argue with the details without giving himself away.

“And you didn’t catch him?”  Loki gritted his teeth.  To save Thor he was going to have to embarrass himself.

“I was busy trying to get my foot free of the brambles I was snared in when it happened.”  Loki took off his boot and illusioned a dark blue bruise wrapping around his ankle as proof.  “I healed most of it myself which is how I managed to walk all the way home on my own.” 

Thor used his hand to wipe his blood from his eyes and get a better look at Loki’s bruised ankle.  Loki congratulated himself.  He had lied so seamlessly that even Thor, who _knew_ he was lying couldn’t be certain.  Frigga sighed resignedly and shook her head.  Loki pulled his boot back on and stood up straight.

“Thor, _please_ go to the healing room and let them fix you up.  If not for yourself then do it for my rugs.  I would hate for you to get blood all over them.”  Thor wiped more blood from his brow and shrugged.

“Very well, Mother.”  He kissed her cheek.  “I will do as you ask.”  Frigga brushed the smudge of blood from her cheek and patted Thor’s mostly clean one.

“Loki, go with him.”  She ordered.  Loki looked at his feet.

“Of course, Mother.”  She floated from the room, her handmaidens scurrying after her.  Loki sighed and turned to Thor.  “Let’s go, you clumsy gorilla.”  Thor laughed.

“You might need more help than I do.  What really happened to your ankle?”  Loki squinted at Thor in confusion.

“Nothing happened?  I’m fine.”

“Do not lie, brother, I saw it myself.”  Loki groaned and pulled his boot back off displaying his unbruised ankle.  Thor blinked at it.  Then, to be certain, he grabbed Loki’s foot and yanked it up towards the light to get a better look throwing Loki off balance.  Thor lifted a bit more until Loki was dangling upside down suspended by his ankle in Thor’s hand.

“Unhand me!”  Loki screeched, the blood quickly rushing to his head.

“Ooo oo ooo.”  Thor replied, swinging Loki to and fro.  Loki growled.

“If you do not put me down right now, Thor, I swear by the Norns I will tell Mother what you were really doing when you got yourself hurt.”  Thor stopped swinging Loki, grabbed his arm, and pulled him up until their faces were a hair away from one another.

“You don’t _know_ what I was really doing.”  Thor accused.  Loki rolled his eyes and arched a brow at his brother.

“You wanted a golden apple ripened in the moonlight to turn you invisible.”  Thor frowned.  After a second or two of silent deliberation, Thor slowly set Loki down right side up.  Loki huffed and began straightening his tunic and pulling his boot back on for the second time.

“How do you know that was what I was doing?”  Thor asked innocently.  Loki pulled a healing stone from his pocket and crushed it over Thor’s slowly mending arm.

“You are painfully obvious, brother.  I saw the look in your eyes the second I brought up magical Asgardian fruit.”  Thor watched Loki murmur a spell over his wound to close it.

“I almost had one I think.”  Thor whispered.  Loki looked up at his brother and sighed.

“There is no such thing as a special apple that grants invisibility.”

“How would you know?”

“Well, for one thing, moonlight cannot ripen anything.”  Thor shook his head.

“You don’t know that for certain.”  Loki growled in irritation.

“Fine.  Whatever.  I have some things to take care of.  Don’t drip any blood on the furniture on your way to clean yourself up.”  Loki started back down the hallway.

“Wait!  What things?”  Thor called.  “You didn’t want to go back up to the waterfalls with me?”  Loki waved him off over his shoulder without turning around.

Sif’s house was quiet as always.  There were a few servants, but it was practically a ghost town compared to the palace always bustling with servants, soldiers, and civilians going in and out at all hours of the day and night.  Loki knocked at the door and waited for a servant to answer.

“Is Lady Sif available?”  The servant chewed her lip and shook her head.

“I’m afraid my lady is feeling a bit under the weather this evening.”  She told him.  Loki smiled sweetly at her.

“Yes, that is why I’m here.”  He confessed.  “I had hoped to fix her up in time for her to join us at the training grounds tomorrow.”  He stepped inside the foyer carefully so as not to distress the maid.  “She is in her bedchambers I take it?”  Loki didn’t wait for her reply.  He climbed the stairs to the right and made his way through the house to Sif.  He knocked on her door lightly out of respect, but once again did not wait for an invitation.

“Loki!”  Sif cried from her bed.  Her eyes were reddened and had a slight puff to them which meant she had been crying.  His gut twisted knowing he had been the one to put them there.

“It’s too early to be abed, Sif!”  He berated lightly.

“What are you doing here?”  Loki gave a half shrug.

“Thor might have mentioned that you were feeling a little under the weather after your outing today.”  Loki passed his hand through the air a few times until a deep blue gown appeared in his hand.  “I thought a gift may brighten your spirits.”  Sif looked at the dress then back to Loki.

“You got me a dress?”  Loki laughed.

“My brother might have mentioned your little fashion show.”  He set the dress down on a chair.  “Please don’t take the things he said to heart.  You know Thor has a hard time thinking before he speaks.”  Sif smiled at him patiently.  “It’s something we are working on, trust me.”  Sif looked around him to the dress lying on the chair.

“Do you mind if I try it on?”  Loki nodded.

“Of course, it is yours after all.”  Sif slipped out of bed quickly.  She grabbed the dress and disappeared behind a folding screen to change.  She stepped out a minute later and stopped Loki’s heart.

“Well?”  Loki groaned and shook his head.

“Oh no, that won’t do at all.”  He moaned.  Sif’s eyes went wide with hurt and she started to turn for the mirror.  “You are going to be the scorn of all the maidens at the banquet.”  She turned back to Loki curiously.

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, I imagine they would all find it hard to be noticed in any room you happen into wearing that.”  Sif smiled wide, bringing a sparkly back to her eyes.  Loki felt himself relax at the sight of it unaware that he had been so tense until that moment.

“Thank you, Loki.”  Sif turned and admired herself in her mirror.

“Any time.”  He started for the door.  “I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning on the training fields.”  Sif smiled at him in the mirror and nodded.

Loki left a little more confident.  He could only imagine he had knocked Thor down a peg in her eyes and boosted himself in turn.  Where once he thought he had no hope when it came to his one-sided crush, he now found himself hopeful.  There may be a happy ending for him yet.


	23. This Means War Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor gets even with Loki after a prank.

There wasn’t much that Thor did not excel at.  There was even less that Thor would admit to not excelling at.  He maintained decent grades in every subject, he bested everyone in combat (easily he might add), he even knew exactly how to please a woman something his friends had seemingly yet to figure out.  But Thor was not great at pranks.  He was even less skilled in magic and spells.  So if Thor wanted to get even with his brother, he would have to get creative.

“Loki has crossed me for the last time.”  He declared to Fandral and Volstagg.  He had snuck out earlier from house arrest to Fandral’s home.  Loki had somehow tricked Thor into destroying Frigga’s newly finished family tapestry and gotten him put on lockdown for an indeterminable amount of time.  Thor still couldn’t figure out just how Loki had done it.  Or why.

“I don’t see why you don’t just give him a good whack with your hammer.  I’m certain he won’t trifle with you any longer once you’ve given him a good braining.”  Fandral suggested.  He was staring at his reflection in an ornate, golden mirror and fidgeting with his hair.  Thor curled his fists and paced back and forth across the room.

“No, I do not wish to _kill_ Loki.  I just need my brother to understand that I will not take his jests lying down.”

“So hit him with your fists.” Volstagg said around a mouthful of food.  His feet were kicked up on the table top and a full plate rested on his large belly.

“The last time I wound up in a bought of fisticuffs with my brother, he mended in a week and I had to spend a month shadowing my father.”  Thor grumbled.  “Especially since he managed to convince our mother that I had simply lost my temper without just cause.”

“Loki’s mere presence is not just cause?” Fandral asked demurely from the mirror.  Thor gave his reflection a warning look that made the blood drain from Fandral’s face.  “Sorry.”  He muttered quickly.  Thor might be mad at his brother at the moment, but the only person with permission to speak ill of his brother was Thor.  Fandral cleared his throat again and worked to change the subject.  “Was it not you that singlehandedly reclaimed Svartalfheim for Asgard after enemies of the crown thought to claim it for their own?  How is it you are still punished for the pranks of your mischievous brother?”

“I may be Asgard’s finest warrior and the crown prince, but I am still the subject of my father.  And Father listens to Mother.”  Thor kicked a chair away from the table forcefully.  The chair flew into the stone wall and shattered.  Fandral looked away from his reflection for a second.

“That was a new chair.”  He muttered.

“How is it,” Volstagg started.  He swallowed his mouthful of food before continuing.  “That whenever Loki is the one doing ill to you, he gets away scot free and when you retaliate, you end up punished?”  Thor chewed his cheek in thought. 

“Well,” Thor stroked his jaw thoughtfully, “he talks his way out of just about everything.”

“Loki of the damned silver tongue.”  Fandral muttered.  “You know he almost talked me into cutting my luscious locks?”  Volstagg erupted into laughter.

“How in the Nine Realms did he manage that?”  Volstagg demanded.  Fandral stopped primping and turned to face his friends.

“He may have alluded to the fact that women preferred men with shorter hair.  He said something along the lines of women found it more pleasurable if they were the ones with better hair.”  Fandral shrugged.  “Yet he struts around with hair past his shoulders like a battle worn warrior.”

“In fairness, he has been in many a battle and has yet to be defeated.”  Volstagg offered.  Thor inclined his head in agreement.

“There is little my brother considers of less importance than his appearance.”  Fandral scoffed.

“If that were true, he might put forth more of an effort.  He doesn’t deserve such long hair.” 

“Jealous, Fandral?”  Volstagg chortled.  Fandral huffed again.  His hand fiddled with the ends of his golden locks.

“Me?  Jealous of that greasy little –” Fandral caught Thor’s eye again and cleared his throat.  “I’m not jealous.  I am merely making the observation that since he has been so oft defeated by our good friend, Thor, here that those victory locks are unrightfully on his head.”  Thor frowned, his brows coming together as a thought whirred in his head.

“Quite so, Fandral.”  Thor mused.  It was a wicked idea.  It was brilliant.  Loki would come to no true harm in the long run which would probably stave off any potential punishment he could receive from either of his parents.  He need only wait for nightfall for his brother to fall asleep.

Loki was rarely in his room these days.  Thor could never expect to find him there.  Instead, Loki spent his time in the large library that sat between their rooms.  On more than a few occasions, Thor had found his brother asleep in his armchair with books strewn around him like a bird’s nest.  That was where Thor found his brother that night as well.

Loki was slumped in the armchair snoring softly and bathed in the dim light of his mage light.  Thor had always envied how easily magic came to his brother.  The fact that he somehow managed to maintain a spell despite being sound asleep both fascinated and frustrated him.  It always had.  Ever since he found out Loki was casting conjuring spells in his sleep when they were children.

Thor tiptoed over to his brother’s head and crouched beside the chair.  From his pocket, he retrieved a pair of shears and a modest sized cloth.  He lay the cloth on the floor beneath his brother’s head and began cutting his brother’s hair close to his scalp, but not close enough to completely bald him.  The hair fell onto the cloth per Thor’s design.  Everything was going to plan.

The back of Loki’s head was the difficult part.  He needed Loki to turn his head so he could get the last bit of hair, but couldn’t risk him waking prematurely.  Thor picked up a thick lock of Loki’s fallen hair and used it to tickle the side of Loki’s face just lightly enough that he snuffled and turned his face away from the annoyance.  It gave Thor exactly what he was looking for.

With his brother successfully de-maned, Thor shoved his sheers back in his pocket and gathered up the corners of the cloth containing Loki’s fallen hair.  Once everything was together, Thor turned for his escape route.

On his way, Thor stepped on an open book just in front of Loki’s armchair making him look down.  It was open to a page on Jotunheim and the Frost Giants.  Thor scowled in disgust.  Even a picture of them made Thor’s blood boil and his body ache for the rage of war.  He wished, as he so often did, that he had been born just a bit sooner so that he might have met the Jotuns in battle alongside his father.  Thor shook himself and reminded himself to focus on his mission.  He promised himself that he would have his chance with the repulsive Frost Giants if it was the last thing he did.

When Thor closed the library door behind him, he congratulated himself on a job well done.  The only thing he still needed to do was turn in for the night to avoid immediate suspicion falling to him.  So far, no one had seen him enter or exit the library.  No one even knew he had gotten out of his rooms so far.  He had one last stop before returning to bed.  He snuck into Loki’s chambers and planted both the shears and the bundle of hair behind Loki’s vanity mirror.  Any evidence that Thor might have committed the delinquency was no longer in his possession.

Thor couldn’t sneak back into his room via a traditional route.  Not when he wasn’t supposed to have left his room in the first place.  Not when no fewer than four Aesir stood watch outside the door.  Luckily, Thor was an expert at scaling the palace.  It was child’s play for him to creep out Loki’s balcony and swing his way over to his own.  Thor was back in his bed before anyone was any the wiser.

He awoke the next morning to the horrified screeching of his little brother resounding down the hall.  Thor grinned mischievously and jumped out of bed.  He wiped the smug look from his face and replaced it with one of feigned surprise and concern.  He whipped his bedroom door open and looked between his guards who were all standing around appearing unsure with what to do. 

“By the Norns!  What are you all doing standing around for?  My brother could be injured!”  Thor shoved past them and made his way to Loki’s chambers.

Loki came barreling out of his room positively seething.  For the first time, Thor got to see the results of his efforts.  Thor’s eyebrows shot up in genuine shock.  He had been more concerned with speed and discretion, so some areas were shorter than others, but the result was nearly a buzz cut.  Loki’s big ears stuck out making him look like an elephant and made the angry look on his face that much funnier.  Laughter bubbled up from Thor’s gut until he was doubled over.  His guards had followed him down the hall and, though they were doing their utmost to hide it, they were laughing alongside him.

“ _You_!”  Loki snarled at him.  Tears sprang to Thor’s eyes as he struggled to catch his breath from laughing.  “You did this!”  Loki accused.  Frigga came around the corner at that moment accompanied by three ladies maids.

“Loki, I heard screaming….”  Frigga trailed off once she caught sight of Loki’s haircut.  To her credit, she did not laugh.  But Thor could see it behind her eyes.  She wanted to.  Her ladies maids were not so resolved.  They covered their mouths and turned their faces in poor efforts to conceal their giggles.  Frigga cleared her throat decorously.  “What happened?”  Loki was spitting mad.

“Thor.” He bit out.  Frigga looked at Thor expectantly.  He held his hands up in surrender.

“I have no clue what he is talking about, Mother.  Honestly.”  Frigga pursed her lips and arched an eyebrow at him.  “How could I have done this, Mother?  I was locked in the confines of my room all of yesterday.”  Frigga’s eyes left him for the guards around him.

“He right, your majesty.  His highness did not leave his bedchambers after being confined to them the night before.  He has taken all meals in his room.”  One of the guards confirmed.  Loki shook with rage.

“You expect me to believe that?” He growled.  Thor tilted his head at his brother and squinted his eyes.

“After what you did two days ago, how do we know you didn’t do this to yourself?”  Frigga shook her head.

“What motivations could I _possibly_ have in doing this. To.  My.  Self?”  Loki rumbled.  Thor shrugged.

“You pinned the tapestry on me.  Maybe you were worried the punishment wouldn’t stick.”  Loki pulled back and eyed Thor more carefully.  Thor swallowed.  He hated when Loki looked at him like that.  Like he could tell exactly what was happening in Thor’s head.

“What do you mean I pinned the tapestry on you?”  Loki asked.  A surreal calm was taking over him pushing Thor on edge.  “I had nothing to do with that.”

“Alright, boys.  I have had quite enough of this.”  Frigga announced.  “Loki, if you want your hair to grow back nicely then you should go see the barber and have him even out that mess.  Thor, return to your chambers.  You have not been relieved of your punishment.  I will be checking in and I do not mean at meal times.”  She warned.  Thor swallowed and nodded mutely.

Before he turned to leave, Thor caught Loki’s eye.  He expected to see anger or embarrassment, but Loki gave Thor a wry, knowing smile.  It sank Thor’s stomach.  There was no reason for Loki to be that levelheaded all of a sudden.  Not unless it meant something devious.  Thor had seen Loki on the battlefield.  He flourished under pressure in a way that marveled Thor.  Now it terrified him.  Sure, Loki had betrayed him first, but he always did devious things like that.  Thor had never retaliated in this manner before.  Not in a way that so closely resembled Loki’s own tactics.  Thor knew exactly what that look in his brother’s eyes meant.

_This means war_.


	24. This Means War Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor worries about Loki's forthcoming revenge and makes matters worse.

Thor stared at Loki from the landing overlooking the training field.  It had been three days since he had sheared his brother’s hair.  Three days with no retaliation of any kind.  It was making Thor nervous.  He couldn’t let his guard down.  He could barely sleep.  He was afraid to eat lest anything he ingested be poisoned.

Loki was talking to Sif casually.  She hadn’t yet noticed that the hair on his head was nothing more than an illusion.  Thor knew.  Even the guards knew, but nobody said a word about it.  Frigga had made it _very_ clear that no one was to say a word about what had happened to her youngest son’s hair.  But it was bothering Thor.

He had gone through all that effort and risked a lifetime of internment in his bedchambers or worse, one on one time with his father, for nothing.  Loki had had the barber shave the rest of his head until his was completely bald so his hair could grow back evenly.  Then succinctly covered his bare head with an illusion so remarkable that Thor had started to wonder if he had dreamt the whole affair.

“Didn’t you shear him?”  Volstagg asked around a mouthful of some sort of food.  He, Fandral, and Hogan met Thor at the overlook geared up for training.

“It’s an illusion.” Thor told them, feigning disinterest.  “Nothing more.  Perhaps my brother’s only true skill.”

“ _That_ is an illusion?”  Hogan remarked.  Thor clenched his teeth at the sound of awe in his friend’s voice.  He found a small stone tucked away on the balcony.  He tossed the rock in the air experimentally, getting a feel for the weight of it, before tossing it with pinpoint accuracy across the training field through Loki’s illusionary hair.  The black locks shimmered a brilliant green around the hole the rock made.

Sif’s eyes went wide and she took a hesitant step back.  Loki whipped his head around and scowled up at Thor.  He was poking a rattlesnake and he knew it.  His only option was to kill it before it could bite him.

“Ever think about a haircut of your own, brother?” Loki whispered behind him.  Thor froze.  The blade of Loki’s dagger was pressed at his neck.  The Warriors Three all jumped in shock at the sudden appearance of the young prince between them.

Thor opened his hand in front of him as subtly as he could.  Mjolnir’s handle was pressed firmly into his palm in a matter of seconds.  Without hesitating, Thor turned and drove his hammer into Loki’s chest.  Loki disappeared around the strike.

“That blasted brother of yours is going to get you in trouble again, Thor.”  Fandral growled.  The Warriors Three and Thor closed ranks and waited for Loki to make a move.

“Four against one seems a bit unfair, Thor.”  Loki’s disembodied voice remarked.  “Are you too afraid to face me one on one?”

“Only when you cheat.”  Thor snapped.  Loki appeared back in the training arena near Sif.

“If my seidr is cheating then so is Mjolnir.”  Thor leapt over the banister and landed in the arena more gracefully than his big body would suggest he was capable of.  He stepped toward Loki holding Mjolnir out from his body.  Loki regarded him apprehensively.

“Fine.”  Thor dropped Mjolnir.  She landed in the dirt with a loud thud and rumbling the earth slightly.  “Then we settle this with fists.”  Loki’s eyes shot around the arena.  An audience was growing.

“Loki, you –”

“Get out of the arena, Sif.”  Sif looked between the two brothers.  She knew no good would come of this.  Everyone knew no good would come of this.  Even Thor.  But he had started this fight and he would be damned if he backed down now.

Loki could take a beating.  At one point, Loki lay back and let Thor slam his sledgehammer of a fist into his face over and over again.  Thor knew he should have stopped when Loki stopped fighting back, but there was so much rage and adrenaline coursing through his body that he couldn’t stop himself.  Not until he saw his brother’s broken and bloodied face beneath him.

It was impressive on Loki’s part.  He stopped fighting back when Frigga arrived.  He knew Thor was too jumped up on adrenaline to even think about taking it easy on Loki.  So when Frigga joined the crowd watching the princes battle it out, all she saw was Thor waling on a defenseless Loki with all the compassion of a shark in bloodied water.

Loki gurgled on the blood filling his mouth from his broken nose and waited for Thor to stop.  Even as he was being punched, Loki was working his magic around his body to start on healing his wounds.  Unfortunately, it meant there was more for Thor to break the longer it took for someone to pull them apart.

“Thor.”  Frigga didn’t shout, she said his name very calmly.  There was no malice in her words, but the warning was clear.  Thor froze mid-swing and stared down at the bloodied mess of his brother.  “What are you doing?”  Thor released Loki and stood up to face his mother who met him in the arena.

“It was a duel.  We were sparring, Mother.”  Frigga frowned in distaste and looked between her two sons.

“I think the spar is over when your opponent can no longer stand.”  She took a step towards Loki.  “Wouldn’t you say so?”  Thor swallowed.  He was still filled with anger, but when he looked at Loki’s bloodied body he could only feel remorse.

“I suppose I went a bit out of my head.”  Thor looked at his feet.

“Don’t be angry with Thor, Mother.  I suggested the combat.”  Loki piped in.  His voice was overly nasally from his still healing broken nose.

“I would believe that, Loki, if you were not such a terrible liar.”  Thor barked out a short laugh making Frigga turn to him.  “Have I said something funny, Thor?”  Thor smiled at her.

“Mother, if you only _knew_ how great and how often Loki lied to you, you would not be here now to defend him.”  Frigga arched a brow at her oldest son.

“Excuse me?”  Loki stopped healing himself.  Frigga looked down at him expectantly.  “You are both to have dinner in your rooms tonight.”  The boys were silent.  “Both of you go now.”

“It’s barely midday.”

“Do not argue with me, Thor.  I am in no mood.”  She turned for the palace, her gaze landing on the crowd that had gathered for the fight.  “I believe you all have work to do.  Get to it.”  The crowd scattered immediately.  No one was left in the training area by the time Frigga reached the palace door save the two princes.

“You love to get me in trouble with Mother.”  Thor sighed, looking after her.  Loki sat up and spit out a mouthful of blood.  He grinned up at Thor.

“Well in Father’s eyes you can do no wrong.  He would never have taken my side.”  Thor leaned down to offer Loki a hand up.  Loki smiled at the offer but shook his head.  “Thanks, but I think I actually need a minute before I can stand.”

“Your smashed face effects your walking now?”  Thor teased crossing his arms over his chest.  Loki laughed wryly and shook his head.

“Not my face, no, but I am pretty sure you broke my leg when you took me down earlier and bone has always been the hardest for me to heal.”  Thor’s smile drooped and he dropped his arms.

“What do you mean?  Did I really?”  Thor knelt down and grabbed Loki’s right leg causing his brother to cry out in pain.

“Don’t _do_ that!”  Loki barked.  Thor released Loki and threw his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry.”  Thor flopped onto his butt beside his brother and watched with veiled interest as he worked his healing magic over his wounds.

“For the record, I am impressed with the hair.”  Loki announced.  Thor blinked at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Thor said, certain his brother was leading him into a trap.

“I meant that honestly.”  Loki held his hand over his swollen left eye and until the swelling went down and he could see again.  “This,” he gestured over his mangled body, “I expected in one way or another.  Maybe not this severe, but I didn’t think you were capable of something so devious.”  Loki frowned and stared at his hands glimmering with magic.  “I must have really made you angry.”

“I only fought with you to prevent any further retaliation on your part.  You aren’t known for being very forgiving.”  Thor explained.  At least he made his reasons known.  Loki terrorized Thor constantly without any explanation as to why.

“Why would I retaliate?  What purpose could that serve?”

“What purpose does any of your mischief serve?”  Thor grumbled.  Loki smirked.

“I have my own reasons.” Loki announced coyly.

“Care to share?”  If Loki had reasons, it might make dealing with his pranks a bit easier.  At the very least it might keep Thor’s wits about him.

“Not really.”  Thor grabbed Loki’s broken leg and squeezed.  Loki yelped and flailed until Thor released him.  Loki opened his mouth to yell at him when he was interrupted.

“I believe I ordered you both to your rooms and here I find you squabbling in the dirt again.”  Loki snapped his mouth shut and looked away.

“We were on our way, Mother.”  Thor lied.  Frigga gave him a withering look that told him she knew.  Thor stood and dusted his hands against his pants.  He reached down to offer his hand to Loki again who looked away.  Thor clenched his fist and spared a glance back at Frigga who was watching them with her arms crossed coldly over her chest.

Thor sighed and stooped down again scooping Loki into his arms.  Loki shouted in protest for half a second before he realized he wasn’t being attacked again.  Thor sidestepped around Frigga and carried Loki into the palace.

He was doing a great job of ignoring his brother and focusing on the task at hand, when the bemused and scandalized expressions of the onlookers caught his eye.  Thor looked down at Loki in his arms and nearly dropped him.  It was no longer his brother he carried, but a half-naked woman with a come hither stare.

“What are you doing?”  Thor demanded.  Naked Woman Loki giggle playfully and patted Thor’s cheek.  “Change back.”

“Now how odd might that look, you big, handsome brute?”  Thor grimaced and looked at the people slowly gathering around him.

“It’s not what it looks like.”  He tried to explain.  “It’s Loki.”  As if that made it better.

“That’s not my name, you silly billy!”  Naked Woman Loki teased.  Thor swallowed heavily and picked up his pace.  “Ooh, walking a bit faster now are we?  So eager to get back to your room?”  Thor stuck his face near Naked Woman Loki’s ear.

“Turn back now or I’ll drop you.”  He hissed.  Naked Woman Loki giggled again.

“Naughty, naughty, Prince Thor!  How unbelievable filthy!”  Naked Woman Loki threw her arms around Thor’s neck and squeezed.  For an illusion, those breasts felt unbelievably realistic pressed against his chest.  Thor turned nine shades of red and hurried down the halls to Loki’s room.  Sometimes he really, _really_ hated his brother.

Thor kicked Loki’s bedroom door open and tossed him onto the bed.  Naked Woman Loki squealed and let out a huff as she landed on the mattress and bounced off.  Thor winced and moved around the bed to check on her.  Loki was laughing maniacally on the floor.

“Loki?”  Loki looked over to Thor and started howling even harder than before.  “Did you hit your head?” 

“Oh, man!  Hook, line, and sinker!”  Loki slammed his fist against the floor.  Thor hesitated at the edge of the bed.  Erratic behavior like this from Loki usually meant something devious.

“Why do you do this?”  Thor whined.  Loki sighed at the ceiling.

“My reasons are my own.”  Loki sobered and stood up.  He stretched his back and walked over to his balcony.

“You’re standing.”  Loki arched a brow at Thor.

“Very astute, brother.” 

“You said your leg was broken.”  Thor rubbed his temples.  “You lied.”

“I didn’t lie per say.  You _did_ break my leg.”  Thor sighed in defeat.

“How long have you been able to walk?”

“I don’t remember my first steps, but Mother says it was sometime around our first birthday.”  Thor wanted to throw Loki out the window.

“You are the living worst.”  Thor growled at him.  Loki beamed at Thor.

“Thank you!”  He said brightly.  Thor spun on his heel and left Loki’s room slamming his door behind him.

As he trudged back to his own bedroom, Thor found he only had himself to blame.  He had known Loki was going to get even with Thor about the hair incident.  Really he should count himself lucky that Loki didn’t do something more devious.  Sure, his pride had taken a hit with the naked woman stunt, but there was no physical repercussions.

Thor shut his door behind him and flopped down onto his mattress.  Or.  He aimed for his mattress.  He flopped face first into the stone floor of his bedroom.  Thor groaned in pain and pushed himself up off the ground.  He was sitting in the middle of his bed, but his bed wasn’t there.  It was an illusion.  Thor passed his hand back and forth through the illusion until it disappeared along with everything else in his room.

Thor looked around.  Everything was gone.  Every piece of furniture, every scrap of paper, everything.  Thor gritted his teeth.  His blood boiled.

“LO _KI_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is written from Thor's perspective which means he doesn't know that the second Frigga appearance was not really his mother, but an illusion crafted by Loki to set his plan in motion.


	25. Die Screaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki is captured in battle by the enemy. Thor sets out on a rescue mission.

“A-ha!” Volstagg cried, raising his axe toward Thor.  The blade was covered in a thick coat of blood and muck matching the rest of its owner’s body.  Thor grinned and held Mjolnir up in response sliding from the saddle of his dappled grey stallion.  “The enemy is in retreat and once again you have bested me, my prince!  My numbers are not dismal by any means, but they certainly pale in comparison to yours.” 

Thor used the back of his hand to wipe his wet cheek.  Whether it was wet with blood, mud, or sweat Thor couldn’t say.

“I demand to know your count!” Fandral barked, slipping his way down a hill to his friends.  Volstagg settled his axe on his back and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

“Two hundred and thirty-one.”  Volstagg boasted.  Fandral scowled, sliding his sword into its sheathe.

“Damn!”

“How many?”  Volstagg urged.

“Two hundred and nineteen.” Fandral grumbled kicking at a clump of dirt.

“Three hundred and one.”  The three men swung their heads around to find Sif striding towards them from across the bloodied fields.  Her shield was battered and covered in muck hanging loosely from her arm, her sword stowed neatly in its sheathe.  

“Bollocks!” Volstagg spit.  Sif shrugged nonchalantly.  Thor knew she was telling the truth, but also that she didn’t particularly care whether Fandral or Volstagg believed her.

“Thor?” She asked expectantly.  Thor cleared his throat and shrugged.

“Oh, I stopped tracking once I hit five hundred.” He moved away and cast his eyes out over the worn battlefield.  Several Asgardians had set about helping the local warriors to their feet.

“Bested by more than two hundred.  Perhaps we should start leaving you out of the running that way one of us will have a hope of winning.”  Sif suggested playfully.  Volstagg and Fandral laughed.

“Now, Lady Sif, if you want to be the best you must beat the best, no?”  Thor tossed back.  He didn’t take his eyes from the field.  A peculiar feeling was beginning to twist in the pit of his stomach.

“Of course.  So all we need to do is beat you to the battlefield so there are more enemies for us to begin with.”  Sif agreed.

“Or we start trainin’ earlier and longer.  Just us three.  If Thor trains any more we haven’t a hope in the Nine.”  Volstagg laughed.  Fandral pulled up his flask and took a swig before passing it to Volstagg.  Sif grew quiet.  Her eyes fixed on the fields with Thor’s.

“Where is Loki?” She asked breaking the spell.  The spell that as long as his absence wasn’t mentioned there was still a hope he would meander into the clearing as cocksure as ever.

“Ack!  That one’s probably disguised himself as a bootstrap to keep out of battle.”  Volstagg laughed.

“Or he’s turned himself invisible so he can spy on us all in his absence.”  Fandral added.  Thor gritted his teeth.  His fist tightened on Mjolnir so hard he could feel her screaming in protest.

“He grew tired mid-battle so he had to take a little nap.  Somewhere he’s made himself a miniature replica of the palace so he can sleep peacefully while the rest of us are waist deep in the trenches.”  Volstagg suggested.

“Shut up now!”  Thor snapped.  His heart was hammering in his chest.  His brother was never far from him.  Not at home and certainly not in battle.  Thor tried to remember the last time he laid eyes on him.

“Thor,” Sif said quietly, “can you see him?”  She sounded just as worried as he was.  Thor knew that Loki’s gilded helmet would be visible if not his bright green tunic.  He knew it should not take so long to spot him out of the mucky brown of the battlefield.  He knew it all, but he refused to give it its due thought.  He wouldn’t let himself fall down that hole.  “Thor.”  Sif insisted.

“By the _Norns_!  Let me think!”  He snapped.  He would have time to regret his tone later.  When he wasn’t quite so sick with worry.

“Your highness!”  A battle worn Asgardian soldier trampled towards them astride a dun mare.  Thor slid Mjolnir through the loop on his belt and turned to meet the soldier. 

He dropped heavily from his saddle.  Battle had clearly taken a toll on the man and the horse.  Blood was streaming steadily from a large gash crossing the mare’s withers.  The warrior himself was covered in blood and chipped armor.  Thor reached out to steady him.

“You have news?” Thor demanded wasting no time despite the obvious injuries.  The warrior nodded sucking in breath like a fish pulled from the river.

“The enemy has retreated.”  He sputtered.  Thor scowled.

“That is not news.” He snapped.  Thor dropped his hands from the man and turned away to scan the fields once more.  The man collapsed to the ground without Thor’s support still heaving in air.

“They took hostages.” The man gasped.  Thor turned back to him.  The man clutched at his side and Thor could see he was fighting unconsciousness.  “Your brother was among them.”  Thor’s heart skittered, stopped, and started all over again in the span of a few seconds.  He rushed the man, crouching beside him and grabbing him at the shoulders.

“When did you see this?”  He barked.  “Where did they go?  What direction?  Answer me!”  Thor screamed. 

“North.”  The warrior answered on a whisper.  His eyes glazed over and his jaw went slack.  Thor was too engulfed in his own emotions to notice.  He needed more information.

“How long ago?  What state was Loki in?  Don’t you hold back on me!”  Thor was shouting and shaking the warrior furiously.

Fandral and Volstagg had fallen silent.  It was one thing to joke about an accomplished warrior meeting with trouble or ducking battle out of misguided envy.  It was another thing entirely when that accomplished warrior met with actual trouble.  More than a warrior.  A prince.  Thor’s brother.  Sif reached out to still Thor who shook the messenger’s limp body violently.

“Thor.”  She said calmly.  “He’s dead, Thor.  He can’t answer you now.”  Thor stared at the blank expression on the warrior’s face.  He paused for a second before shoving the body away from him and starting for his horse.

“I’m going north.  Not a word to my father until I return.”  Thor ordered his friends.  He swung himself up into his stallion’s saddle.  “That includes you, Heimdall.”  He bit, sparing a glance to the skies.  Before he could spur his stallion to a gallop, he felt a hand clutching his forearm and a shifting of the saddle.  He turned and spied the ebony locks of Lady Sif behind him.

“What do you think you’re doing?”  Thor growled.  Sif raised her inky black brows in challenge.

“Going with you, clearly.  You do not think I would let you go into the enemy’s lair alone, do you?” Sif shifted on the saddle blankets and gave the stallion a nudge with her knees urging him forward.  Thor pulled up on the reins sharply.

“You are worn from battle already.  I will not allow you to join me when you can hardly keep your feet.”  Thor argued.  Sif reached up with one hand and yanked his feathered helmet from his blonde tresses.  In the same moment, she brought her bony fist down on the crest of his head and dropped his heavy helmet back down unceremoniously.  Thor winced.  “ARGH!  WHAT THE HEL, WOMAN?”  He screeched furiously.  Sif shoved Thor forward with more strength than Thor thought she had left.

“Let’s move.  The longer you spend arguing with me, the farther those kidnappers get with your brother.”  Thor opened his mouth to argue again, but reluctantly saw the logic behind her words.

He spurred his stallion into a full gallop to the north and into the thick brush bordering the battlefield.  Behind them, Volstagg and Fandral gave chase on their respective mounts.  He knew they did not care particularly for the devious Loki or his pranks, but could not refuse aide to their crown prince and dear friend.  Thor cursed their prey’s route.  The heavy canopy of trees made pursuit by air futile as Thor would not be able to see their course.  A bad move for the villains.  The longer the journey, the longer his rage had to fester.  Mercy would be the last thing Thor would hold for the brutes.

* * *

 

 Loki awoke in the dark.  His hands were tightly bound at the wrist.  He pulled at them experimentally and found that his ankles had also been bound and his wrists to ankles by measure of a short chain.  His head throbbed painfully and he struggled to remember what it was he had been doing that had such a result.

He remembered seeing the tall, ugly man aiming a spear at Thor’s turned back as his bear of a brother struggled with three more brutes in front of him.  Loki had lunged at the man and wrestled with him on the ground ultimately shoving a dagger into the man’s heart.  And that was it.  Lights out.

Loki worked a spell for light first only to find a distinct absence of his seidr.  Loki tried again, forcing an urgent sense of calm into himself.  It hadn’t been his imagination, his seidr was gone.  Loki’s gut churned.  He took stock of his situation and tried to stay out of the dark realm he often visited.  He was bound somewhere dark and dank by enemies and traitors of the crown.  He had no magic to escape his chains or even shine a light on his confines.

No magic.

He was stuck on that.  Magic was far and away his only true talent.  The only thing that kept him alive and even, at least partially, in his father’s good graces.  He couldn’t think of a worse thing to lose.  In his panic, he bargained with himself.  _My arm, my leg, an eye or my cock, but not my fucking magic_!  It was hopeless.

“Awake are ya?” A gravelly voice said from the door of his cell.  Loki looked up at the brute.  He was brown and tan with great grey spots all over his bare chest and bald head.  Two great, yellowed tusks jutted from the man’s hanging jowls.  Loki composed himself.  He tilted his chin up regally and sat as straight backed as his chains would allow.

“A very astute observation.  Was it the lack of snoring that gave me away?”  The man growled menacingly and flung the door to Loki’s cell open with ease, stepping inside.  Loki tried to maintain his poise even as the brutish man hefted Loki up by his shackles and dragged him from his cell.

_Torture, is it?_  Loki thought grimly.  The brute tossed Loki across the room to another equally brutish man who strapped Loki to a center bolt on the floor.  This room was lit much better than his cell though Loki didn’t exactly appreciate it as it was.  The floor was covered in puddles of thick, red blood.  A pile of bodies were stacked in the corner, Asgardian warriors.  To his disgust, Loki could see three of the disgusting men roasting bits from the corpses and eating them.

The largest among the modest gathering of men leaned forward and inspected Loki’s grimy face.  Loki knew the man’s name, though he could not remember it just then.  To his discomfort, he saw a similar recognition flicker in the man’s dark eyes.  A pit formed in his gut as a malicious smile pulled its way across his captor’s horrid face.  Yes, he knew exactly who it was he had chained to the floor of his torture chamber.  He knew exactly what Loki was worth.

“An exceedingly great job, men.  Do any of you know exactly what you’ve brought me?” The grinning monster asked.  His men all looked amongst themselves and shook their heads in confusion.  “This,” the leader stuck his finger at Loki, “is the second son of His Travesty, Odin, King of Lies.”  The men began to jeer at this.  “Not only will he be the one to tell us in excess the details of the Asgardian battle plans, but when we’ve had our fill we can ransom him off to the Thief in the Skies himself.”  Some men booed at this suggestion clearly preferring to simply kill the smooth skinned prisoner.  A better option than to be ransomed back to his father to bear humiliation the rest of his days as the single greatest disappointment Asgard would ever know.

“Ransom me back to my father?”  Loki demanded.  The leader turned back to Loki now.  Surprised, it would seem, at his having spoken at all.  “Do you honestly believe that my father would give the dung of the palace goats let alone one piece of his gold for a son not only felled in battle, but held captive by his enemy?”

“A father’s love knows no limits.” The leader said.  Loki scoffed.

“For someone that would like very much to see my father dead, you give him more credit than he is due.”  Loki shook his head and tried very hard not to let himself give weight to the truth of his statement.  Odin, who barely looked favorably upon his second son to begin with, would hold nothing but contempt for him now.

“You mean to have us kill you here in place of being ransomed back to your family.”  The leader – Kovil, Loki remembered his name – said carefully. 

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”  Loki answered cheerfully while dread stewed in his gut.

“Then you will inform us all of the Asgardian battle plans.  Forms, defenses, weakness.  Tell us all and you will receive a quick death.”  Kovil swore.  Loki hissed in a sharp breath through his teeth.

“I am very sorry – truly I am – but I cannot tell you anything of the sort.” Loki explained with a small shaking of his head.  Kovil gave a nod to one of the men standing at Loki’s shoulder so slight that Loki almost missed it.

The formidable man rammed his sledgehammer of a fist into Loki gut with the force of an airship going full speed.  It was a good deal harder than most of the blows he had endured at the hands of his brother, he thought wryly.  Though he had no doubt whatsoever that Thor could hit just as hard and even harder should the need arise. 

The air rushed out of Loki’s lungs and he gagged before he could take another breath.  Almost unconsciously, he tried to send seidr to his stomach to repair the damage before he remembered that he had none to spend.  Any torture he endured now would be lasting.  Kovil fisted his hand in Loki’s thick, black locks and jerked his head up to meet his eyes.

“You’ll want to rethink your position on that, I think.”

“I do not deny the information out of pride or honor, my friends would tell you I have none of that.  I simply do not have the answers you seek.”  Loki was pleased to find that his speech had not been terribly affected by the abuse to his gut.  He chalked it up to the many years of suffering Thor’s inimitable temper.

“A warrior – nay, a prince of Asgard, shot out onto the battlefield with no idea as to battle forms and defenses?”  Kovil crowed.  “As unlikely as a mountain moving for a gull.”

“It’s not an entirely unlikely occurrence, though.  The moving mountains of Re –” Loki didn’t finish his thought as a strong blow by the sledgehammer struck his jaw all but snapping Loki’s neck.  Knowing from experience that his captors would love nothing more than to hear their prey’s screams of agony, Loki worked his tender jaw silently.  He turned his head slightly and spit out a mouthful of blood before turning back to his interrogator.

“Let’s start with numbers.” Kovil said airily.  Loki glanced over the man’s shoulder to the pile of Asgardian corpses.  Four of them.  If he had interrogated them each the same way, Loki could not determine if they had answered any questions under the special agony of torture and if they had, had they done so truthfully or not.

“Numbers of what?” Loki asked innocently.  “Numbers of stars in the sky?  Numbers of relics in the All-Father’s vaults?  Number of bricks that make up the palace?  Blades of grass in the meadows?  I could tell you all of this, but to what end?”  The sledgehammer crunched against his ribs and Loki, for all he tried, fell forward onto the floor struggling for air.

“You have a sharp tongue, little prince.  Sharper still for your wit, but I have what you lack.”  Kovil had taken a leisurely turn around Loki’s curled form writhing on the ground.  Suddenly a flash of metal struck out and bit Loki’s hand spread on the stone floor for balance.  Loki couldn’t stop the grunt of pain that rose from his gut and broke through his tightly clamped teeth.  “A sharper blade.”

“You’ll die screaming.” Loki hissed quietly, staring at the dagger blade jutting from the back of his hand.  Kovil’s grey hand closed around the hilt and wriggled it back and forth in his flesh before pulling it free.  Loki stared at the long, jagged oval in his hand watching the blood pump steadily from it.  An ounce of magic would staunch the bleeding in an instant.  Another ounce would quell the pain he felt.

“Trying to heal yourself?”  Kovil asked blandly.  Loki said nothing.  His jaw clenched shut tight around a scream.  “I’m sure you’ve noticed there is no magic to be had down here.  Quite by design, actually.  Our information on the specifics of your kind may not be vast, but we know your kind can touch the magic offered in the universe for help in healing ailments and injuries.  What good would it be to torture information out of somebody that could heal the damage you’re inflicting right up?”

Kovil was circling him again.  Toying with his dagger still wet with Loki’s blood.  Loki watched him move from the corner of his eyes.  His forehead pressed firmly into the stone floor.  To die was one thing.  To be toyed with, taunted, and tortured beforehand was another thing altogether and Loki wasn’t entirely certain he could manage it.  He wanted out whether by death or some miraculous means of escape.

“Stretch him.”  Kovil said to some of his men.  “Let’s see what his insides look like.”

* * *

 

 Three men stood guard at the mouth a great cave.  Thor had found Loki’s gilded helmet lying in the dirt a half mile back and determined this was the right place.  Sif jumped down and ducked behind a tree dragging her sword from its sheathe.  Volstagg grabbed up the horses reins and tied them off away from view.

“Fandral, Volstagg, and I will take care of these men.  You focus on getting inside and finding Loki.”  Sif told Thor.  “We’ll follow when we’re through.”  Thor nodded.

As soon as the guards were adequately distracted, Thor slipped into the mouth of the cave.  It was more of a pit than a cave in that in went almost straight down.  The dankness of the air threatened to strangle him even as he took shallower breathes.

He killed a handful of men at the base of the first decline and continued on before he heard a sound so chilling he felt like a five year old alone in the dark.  A sound he hadn’t heard in hundreds of years and never in such anguish.  Loki’s screams.  He moved at once trying desperately not to think of exactly what sort of torture could elicit screams when a thousand broken bones by his hand could not.

He found the answer when he reached the bottom most room.  A large, round chamber lit only by a single fire imbedded in the wall.  Loki was stretched on a rack, his tunic lay in shreds on the floor.  Kovil, the rebellion leader, was whispering something in Loki’s ear.  Loki answered with a tired shake of his head.  From the look of him, it was all he could do to stay conscious.

“For someone that thinks so little of his father, you certainly have an impressive amount of loyalty to him.” Kovil remarked.  Thor turned then and counted out the numbers in the room.  From what he could see there were seven plus Kovil.  “I wonder what your big brother would do in your position.”  Thor’s eyes snapped back to the rebel leader. 

Kovil pushed a blade under Loki’s skin and twisted it until a chunk of meat dropped.  Loki pressed his head back against the rack and screamed through his teeth.  Breaking at the last and giving out a bloodcurdling cry as tears dropped down his cheeks.  It was all Thor could do not to charge the room.  Something was interfering with Mjolnir he hadn’t been able to summon his lightning since entering the mouth of the cave.  Forced to take on eight men with nothing but his own strength would have been much easier before a six day battle.

“You think maybe I’ll catch him next?”  Kovil plucked the piece of meat from the floor and dropped it onto a pan over the fire.  The sound of it sizzling against the hot metal roiled Thor's usually steel stomach.  “Maybe I’ll feed you to him.  Think he’ll like that?  I’ve heard he’s quite the animal.”  Kovil taunted.  He returned to Loki, his seared flesh pinched between his fingers.  “Maybe you’ll want to taste for yourself.  Make sure it’s decent enough for him.”  Kovil pushed the meat at Loki’s trembling lips.  Failing to force the flesh into Loki’s mouth, Kovil shrugged and popped the morsel back between his molars and chewed noisily.

Sif appeared at his side suddenly.  She could see Loki and tears shown in her glass green eyes.  Fandral and Volstagg were behind her their jaws clenched as they each took in the state of their friend.  Wordlessly, the four planned their attack.

“I have seen your brother, you know.”  Kovil spoke still to Loki.  “As tasty as you are, he looks positively scrumptious.”  There was a murmur of agreement amongst the rebels.  “There’s a man I’d like to roast on the hearth.”  Loki hissed something under his breath.  “What was that?”  Kovil asked, he grabbed Loki by his hair and turn his bloodied face up.  “What did you just say?”

“I said, if you touch a single hair on my brother’s head there are no chains in Hel that could keep me from gutting you like the pig you are.” Thor was caught slightly off guard by the thick venom oozing from Loki’s words even as he bled out onto the floor.  It made him suddenly regretful of not charging headlong into the room.  Damn the consequences.

“I guess we’ll see then, won’t we?” Kovil raised his blade to deliver a final blow and Thor knew they could wait no more.  He led the charge into the room howling like a banshee and striking down two rebels at once.  Kovil spun on his heels to see the commotion, but too late to stop it.

Thor was upon him in seconds slapping the blade from his hand as easily as slapping a fly.  The sounds of battle around him were coming to a close as his friends made quick work of the unassuming rebels.  Thor gripped Kovil by the throat and slammed Mjolnir against one of his protruding tusks.  It snapped quite audibly and Kovil let out a miserable cry.  Thor shoved the beast into the wall ignoring his nails digging deep into his arm.

“For my father, you die.”  Thor told the rebel.  “For my brother, you die slowly.”  Thor took his time.  He was not generally one for cruelty.  The men he killed in battle all died quick deaths and Thor took little pleasure in it.  Even as Thor pulled Kovil’s ribs from his chest one by one, he could not shake away the part of himself that wanted to kill him quick and be done.  But he had seen the extent of Loki’s torture.  Saw that Kovil had no humanity in him that would warrant something so merciful as that.  He had consumed the flesh of his brother something so abhorrent that even thinking of it made Thor rebel against the memory.

When he finished, he gathered Loki’s unconscious form from where he was slumped between Fandral and Volstagg.  Together, they climbed the steep cavern to the horses.  Loki didn’t come to until they had almost reached the battlefield again.  Even then, he wasn’t entirely cognizant.  Thor rode slowly in an effort to keep from jostling his brother too much.

“Thor?”  Loki sounded as he had as a child when Thor would rouse him from his nightmares.  “I didn’t tell him anything.”  He sounded so miserable.

“I know, Loki.”  Thor brought his hand to Loki’s neck, the only part of him uninjured in the long hours of torture.  He held Loki’s head fast against him and pressed his forehead to Loki’s temple.  “Rest, brother, we’ll be home soon.”

“Tell Father I didn’t tell them anything.”  Loki continued.  “Please.”

“You can tell him yourself when we’re home.”

“No, Thor.”  Loki said quietly.  Something in his voice made Thor’s stomach clench.

“Just start healing what you can and the palace healers will take care of the rest.”  Thor returned, brushing off the feeling of dread.  Loki shook his head infinitesimally.

“I have no magic to use, Thor.” Loki confessed.  “The cave drained me of it and I am too weakened to replenish it.”  Loki slumped against Thor’s chest and suddenly pitched forward.  Thor pulled up just in time to go over with him.

Thor’s eyes shone brightly with tears as he put two fingers shakily to his brother’s neck feeling for a pulse.  Sif, Fandral, and Volstagg all dropped from their mounts and ran to check on them.  Thor cradled Loki’s head against his chest and heaved in huge gulping breathes to keep from sobbing outright.

“ _HEIMDALL_!”  He bellowed.  The Bifrost opened around the five warriors and dropped them back at the portal in Asgard.  Frigga was there already pushing Thor’s trembling hands away and working her own seidr infused hands over the injuries.

“Take him to the medical wing.” She ordered of two guards.  They jumped to their task pulling Loki’s lifeless body from Thor’s lap and hurrying him away.  Frigga started after them at once when Thor grabbed her hand, stilling her.

“Mother.”  He choked on a sob unable to finish the question.  She gave him a stern look, but he could see genuine fear in her eyes.

“I have to go.” She said in lieu of answer bustling away to the palace on a powerful grey mare leaving Thor alone in his fear.  His grief.  His own torture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sister and I had an argument about whether or not there was cannibalism in this chapter. Clearly the rebels and the Asgardians are different species so I say not. Then it led into whether Asgardians eating Midgardians (or vice versa) would be cannibalism, but again I argue that they are not the same species with different genetic make-ups that just happen to resemble one another. Thus we concluded that Thor's relationship with Jane (or any other Midgardian) would be classed as bestiality and then I had to go lie down and avoid the rest of that conversation. Never to think or speak of it again. Still felt I needed to share it with you all because if I have to think of it, so do you!


	26. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki recovers from Kovil's torture. Thor learns something shocking about his brother. Odin's terrible parenting makes an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ********TRIGGER WARNING***********ATTEMPTED SUICIDE**************
> 
> This is the darkest chapter I have ever written. Which is really saying something considering the last chapter of Two Princes included cannibalism. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE OF THE TRIGGER WARNING BEFORE CONTINUING!!!

Loki was alive.  He blinked up at the familiar ceiling of the infirmary.  He was alive, but at the same time, he felt strangely detached from himself.  Like his body no longer belonged to him.  Or he no longer belonged to his body.  He could, of course, feel all the aches and pains that came with recovering from magic resistant torture.  His bones, muscles, and tendons burned with pain, but a pain that didn’t seem to belong to him.  He wasn’t in this body.  He was somewhere else.

“Loki?”

He turned his head toward the speaker.  Thor sat hunched in a small chair beside his bed.  His eyes were dark enough to tell Loki that his big brother hadn’t slept in days.  Something else seemed off about him.  Thor was usually surrounded by a soft, golden glow.  Like the sun had taken up roost just beneath his skin.  Now, seated beside Loki’s recovery bed, his skin was ashen.

“Are you alright?” Loki croaked concernedly.  His mouth and throat were bone dry.  What he wouldn’t give for a pint of mead at that moment.

Thor smiled at the question then let out a light, breathy laugh.  He reached out and settled his hand on Loki’s shoulder.  Soft as a butterfly.  Almost reverent.  The simple touch brought Loki back to himself in some part.  He was alive.

“I should be asking that of you, brother.”

“Have we not all been cannibalized at one point or another?”

Thor paled.  His face drew up in concern.

“I’m fine.” Loki told him quickly.

“Mother will be pleased.”  Thor smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes like it usually did.

Loki watched him get to his feet.  He looked unusually thin.  Even for all his bulk of muscles, his tunic hung off him oddly.  He was out the door before Loki had the opportunity to question his appearance.

Alone, Loki pulled himself up into a sitting position and took stock of himself.  His shirt was off so he could see the aftermath of his torture in brutal detail.  His fingers drifted over the small, silver circle where Kovil had carved out a chunk of his flesh.  His stomach churned with the haunting memory.  The smell of his own cooked meat stung his nostrils.  The greasy feel of it shoved against his lips.

He shook himself.  Forced his thoughts elsewhere.  Anywhere but that memory best left forgotten.  Loki brought his hand up to stare at it.  His throat was thick with fear.  He hesitated even to try.  He took a steadying breath and forced himself to focus.  He passed his hand back and forth through the air in front of his face.  With each pass, he summoned more and more seidr to his palm.  As much as he could.  He stopped when he had a large ball of swirling, green magic before him.

He laughed in relief.  He couldn’t believe he had been panicked enough to think that the cave had drained him of his magic forever.  He toyed with his ball of magic.  He shaped it, changed it, and twisted it to his will with ease.  The feeling of utter powerlessness receded though it did not disappear completely.

“Loki.”

He dropped his hand quickly.  His ball of magic vanished into the air.  He looked over to see his mother, father, and brother entering his room.

Frigga let out a cry of relief and flung her arms around Loki’s neck.  She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck.  Loki hugged her back less fiercely.  It made him glad at least.  To know that someone was worried over him.  To finally feel happy that he had survived his injuries.  If only he hadn’t looked up.

Odin was frowning at him.  A severe look in his eyes made Loki swallow with fear.  Frigga sat back on the edge of the bed and beamed at him.  Loki tried to focus on her instead.  Tried to put off what he knew was coming.  The inevitable lecture of disappointment.

“Thor’s told us what happened.  At least what he saw.” Frigga told him.

“Thor?” Loki looked between his mother and brother.  “Not Heimdall?”

Frigga shook her head sadly.

“The moment you entered the cave you were lost to Heimdall’s Sight.  It was protected by a fearsome spell we’ve never seen the likes of before.” Frigga explained.

“What was _not_ lost to us was that you left yourself unguarded and it cost us dearly.” Odin snarled.

“Odin!”

“Father!”

“Silence.” Odin barked.  “The boy needs to hear what he’s done.”

“He’s done nothing!” Thor protested.

Odin ignored the golden child and focused on Loki with unmitigated fury.  “You have let yourself be beaten in battle by enemies of Asgard.  In doing so, you have brought shame to my name.  More importantly, you have brought shame to Asgard.”

Loki dropped his eyes.  He locked his jaw to keep it from trembling.  Nothing Odin was saying came as a surprise to Loki.  He knew exactly what would be said of him from the moment he woke chained in the cell.  Prior knowledge didn’t stop the icy words from stinging his skin like the crack of a whip.

“To make matters worse,” Odin continued, “you endangered your brother and your friends.  Let this Kovil eat of your _flesh_!” Odin wrinkled his nose at the idea.  As though his secondhand knowledge of the event was worse than the experience had been firsthand.

“Have you anything to say for yourself?” Odin demanded.

Loki stared at the blanket mutely.  He listened to Odin’s heavy breathing.  Loki’s silence was only serving to anger him even more.  Loki cleared his dry throat.

“I will endeavor not to further disappoint you in the future, Father.” He bit.

Odin scowled down at his youngest son a minute longer.  Loki had gone away from himself again.  If only he had been slain in battle.  Odin could then sing praises of his bravery.  Bid him welcome in Valhalla.  Instead, Odin stormed from the room leaving his disappointment hanging heavy in the air.

“Pay his words no mind, Loki.”  Frigga said, taking his hand in both of hers.  “He truly was very worried for you, but you know how he is.”  She pat the back of his hand lightly, but Loki couldn’t feel it.

Loki nodded numbly.  His mother’s words meant nothing to him.  Nothing meant anything to him.  Not even that look of pity in his mother’s sad eyes.

“I think I’m still a bit tired, Mother,” Loki mumbled.

He shifted down into his bed and pulled the blanket up to his chin.  Frigga patted his shoulder soothingly.  It felt like an eternity before she finally rose and strode from the room.  Even then, Loki could feel Thor’s presence.  His brother’s careful eyes was trained on him, never leaving his form.  Yet, when he next awoke, Loki was alone.

* * *

Thor stared at his plate.  He hadn’t been able to bring himself to eat since the cave.  The meat on his plate brought the stench of his brother’s searing flesh back to him.  His stomach rolled viciously at the thought of eating though it was long empty.  Sleep could have been a relief to battle the hunger pains if he didn’t have to watch his brother’s torture anew each time he closed his eyes.

“Thor?”

He looked up to see Sif standing on the other side of the empty table.  His parents had finished their meals long ago.  Thor wouldn’t have even sat done had his father not sent half a dozen Aesir to escort him to the dining hall.  Odin instructed them that Thor was not to leave the table until his plate was empty.  Leave it to his father to send someone to make certain he did as commanded.

He stared at her curiously.  There was something off about her demeanor.  The amount of space she was putting between them struck him.  She had put a table between them when usually she would claim the seat beside him.  She spoke to him almost fearfully. 

Then Thor remembered.  He had been so consumed with what Loki had gone through.  With what he had witnessed.  That he had forgotten entirely what he had done to Kovil.  The sheer brutality he had committed that all his friends had been witness to.  They may not have seen what Kovil had done to Loki, but they had certainly seen what Thor had done to his brother’s torturer.

Thor cleared his throat and tried to smile.  Sif frowned and her delicate, black brows pulled together.  She pulled her arms tighter around her chest, holding her elbows.

“Lady Sif, have you been well?” Thor asked, politely, though he knew what her answer must be.  Of course she was well.  _She_ hadn’t suffered under the hands of the rancid Kovil.  Hadn’t had her flesh carved from her still living body and consumed before her eyes.

She gave a small nod and took a shaky breath.  “How’s Loki?” She asked in a small voice that didn’t belong to her.

“Great.  He’s recovering nicely. He woke this morning though he is sleeping now.” Thor looked down at his plate and pushed his food around with his fork.  “He’ll be fine.” He said, more to reassure himself than her.

“I’m glad to hear it.”

Thor nodded.  Tired of the pleasantries.  He needed to get back to Loki’s bedside.  He didn’t want him to wake up alone again.  He didn’t want his brother to be alone.  Some part of him knew that he couldn’t afford to be alone at that moment either.

Sif shuffled on the other side of the table.  She was nervous.  More nervous than normal around him.  Thor picked at his plate.  He speared his fork through a legume and picked it up to stare at it.  Anything to avoid looking at the unconcealed horror in Sif’s piercing eyes.

Thor dropped his fork onto the table.  The clattering noise was jarring, but he was still surprised to see the little jerk Sif gave at the sound.  He pushed his plate away and leaned back in his chair.

“I can scarcely bring myself to eat these days,” Sif admitted, shyly.  “Even Volstagg is fasting.”

Thor clenched his fist so tightly his knuckles went white.

“You didn’t see it.” Thor growled.  “None of you _saw_ what….” He couldn’t say it.

“What Kovil did?” Sif offered.

“You think your stomachs are turned?  You don’t know the meaning!” He snapped.

Sif flinched and Thor immediately regretted his tone.  She was already terrified of him.  He didn’t want to make it worse and that was exactly what he was doing.  He sighed heavily and put his head in his hands.

“My apologies, Lady Sif.  I am not myself these days.”

“I understand.”

Thor shook his head.  “No, you truly do not.  Should I live ten thousand centuries, I will never see a sight more grotesque than what I saw in that cave.  What I saw happening to my brother.”  He put his hand over his mouth.  “My brother.” He whispered again to himself.  Validating the terrible actions he had taken against Kovil.  At least to himself.

“Thor –”

“Leave me.” He sighed again at his harsh tone.  “Please.”

Sif hesitated for a moment longer before bowing from the room.  Alone again, Thor picked up his untouched plate and hurled it against the wall.  The crash it made with satisfying, slinging the food across the floor.  Thor stood and marched to the exit.  An Aesir held up a hand to stop him.  Thor fixed the man with a glare on par with Odin on his worst day.  The look was enhanced by the small sparks of lightning bouncing from his skin.  The Aesir dropped his hand and let Thor shoulder past him.

Thor spent every moment he had at Loki’s bedside.  He couldn’t imagine leaving his brother alone again.  Nothing good ever seemed to happen when they were apart.  Even so, Thor stopped outside Loki’s door.  He had to brace himself each time he looked upon his brother’s still mending face.  To look at his brother and try desperately not to hear the way he had screamed under Kovil’s unforgiving blade.

When he finally managed to open the door, it took him a minute to work out what he was seeing.  Loki’s bed was empty.  The sheets were tangled and pulled off to one side.  Red was staining them.  A strange puddle had formed on the floor beneath the bed.  Slowly, Thor stepped around to the other side of the bed and felt his heart stop.

“Loki?” He called out, just in case this was somehow one of Loki’s awful tricks.  “Loki?” A sob strangled the second syllable.

Thor dropped to the floor beside his brother and put two trembling fingers to his brother’s neck just as he had only days before.  It took a while because of his shaking, but he cried with relief when he felt the threadbare pulse beating sluggishly against his fingers.

Now that he knew his brother was still alive, Thor searched for the cause behind his condition.  With horror, Thor found his brother’s wrists.  Two deep gashes ran up the length of Loki’s forearms nearly to his elbows.  Blood was still pumping out the wounds steadily.  Thor grabbed the gashed and tried to hold the blood back inside his brother’s body.

Thor tried to call for help, but the word stuck in his chest.  He cleared his throat and growled at himself before trying again.  His voice was thick with panic.

“Help!  Somebody!  Get help!  My brother is dying!” He screamed.

Thor picked Loki’s body up in his arms and continued holding the gashes shut.  Tears were streaming from his eyes but he shook Loki.  It had only been a few hours since Loki was sitting up and talking to him.  Now, his brother lay limp in his arms.

“Loki, wake up.  Dammit!  Wake up and heal yourself!”

Loki’s lifeless head lolled back against Thor’s chest.  Nobody was coming.  Thor settled his brother back on the floor and ran to the medical cupboard across the room.  Blood was everywhere.  Everything Thor touched was left with a garish, red handprint smeared across it as he rifled through the cabinets and doors.  It took him only a few seconds to find what he was looking for but it felt like years.

Thor dropped back down beside Loki and crumbled his healing stones into the wounds.  Then he stopped.  He had been taught the spell over and over again, but he had never paid attention.  He had always healed extraordinarily quickly so he rarely needed to use healing stones.  Not for himself.  He cursed himself for being so selfish.  So stupid.

“What are the words?” He demanded of himself.  “What’s that damned spell?”

Thro grabbed Loki’s thin face between his blood soaked hands.  His skin was colder than normal and had taken on an unsettling, blueish hue.  Thor’s panic was rising.

“Loki, wake up.  Tell me the words.  I can’t remember the words.  Please, please, Loki, I can’t remember.  You just have to tell me this one time and I swear to you I will never forget again.”  Thor swore.  He choked on a sob.  “Loki, you promised.  Live together, die together, remember?  So you have to wake up now.  You have to tell me the words.”

He put his hands back over the wounds on his brother’s forearms and tried to pull up the spell from the recesses of the memory.  Suddenly, clean hands appeared over his own.  Frigga’s low chanting sent tingles through his hands.  She finished the spell but the wounds didn’t close.  She started again.  On the third time, Thor joined in.  He chanted the spell with her brining a sense of calm to himself as he did so.  They sat together, chanting the healing spell over and over until the blue hue faded from Loki’s body and the skin on his forearms stitched back together.

Frigga lifted her hands from Thor’s and touched Loki’s cheek tenderly.  Thor chanted the spell again and again in hopes that the terrible, silver lines would fade from his brother’s arms.  He chanted until he felt Frigga’s soft hand on his own cheek.

“There’s nothing more you can do.” She said, softly.

“The lines.”

“Scars he will have to bear all his life.”

Thor let go of his brother’s wrists and leaned back to look at him.  His poor brother had now been on the cusp of death twice in a week.

“What happened?” Thor asked his mother, pleadingly.  “I saw no sign of this when I took him from the cave.  How could we miss this?”

Frigga was quiet making Thor tear his eyes from Loki’s bloodstained body.  Silent tears fell down her cheeks as she, too, stared at Loki.

“Mother, how did we miss this?”  He insisted.

She shook her head and took a shaky breath.  “These wounds were not from Kovil, Thor.”

He stared at her.  What she said made no sense.  If the injuries weren’t from the cave, where could they have possibly come from?

“If not from Kovil, then who?  Who could have possibly done this?  I would drive my hammer through their skull.”

“Loki,” she whispered.  “He did this to himself.”

Thor’s mouth went dry.  He shook his head.  His mother was surely out of her mind with grief and worry.  She didn’t understand the situation.  That had to be it.

“No.  No, Loki wouldn’t do that.  He couldn’t.”

“He used his own daggers.” She insisted.

“No.”

“Thor, _look_!” Frigga ordered.

He didn’t want to look.  He didn’t want proof for Frigga’s words.  He wanted to keep believing that Loki would forever be that grinning nuisance always trailing after him.  Tricking him, stabbing him playfully, and darting away with that stupid laugh.  Loki who clung to him at night when they were children because he was the only thing keeping his nightmares at bay.  Loki whose face would light up with excitement and pride when he figured out a new spell or managed to pull off a particularly intricate trick.  But Thor did look and his illusion was shattered.

Loki’s daggers were still clenched in his bloody fists.  Thor didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed them before.  How he could have possibly been so blind.  He didn’t think he would ever see anything that could horrify him more than what he saw Kovil so to Loki in the cave.  Seeing what Loki had tried to do to himself had proved just how wrong he had been.

“No one can know, Thor.”

Thor’s head snapped up.  He met Odin’s eye almost ashamed of all the blood and tears that covered his body.  If the shock hadn’t stopped his ability to feel anything at all.

“What?”

He couldn’t fathom his father being heartless enough to care more for his reputation than his son’s wellbeing.  Thor had certainly misunderstood what his father was saying.  He must have.

“No one can know what your brother has done.  You must tell no one.  Not even your friends.”  Odin repeated, leaving no room for a misunderstanding.

“You heartless monster!” Thor snarled.  “I wish you had been able to see into that cave.  To see just how far Loki would go, how much he would go through, not to betray you.  How much pain he would take for _you_.  Maybe then you would not betray him in this manner.”

“I am not betraying him, Thor.  I am protecting him.”

“ _Protecting him_?!” Thor demanded incredulously.

“Yes, Thor.  Whether you believe it or not.”  When Odin saw that Thor wholly did not believe him, he sighed and began to elaborate.  “Tell me, what do you think would happen?  What do you think people would believe were they to discover that following his capture by enemies of Asgard where he was tortured for information, Loki attempted to take his own life?  What reasoning do you think they would attribute such drastic actions to?

“He told them nothing!”

“I know.  I know, my son.” Odin said, oddly peaceably.  “But the truth does not matter when the rumor is so easily acceptable.  Even if we reassured them that Loki gave away no information to his captors, the doubt would always linger in their minds and they would forever regard him with suspicion.”

“So what am I to do?  Pretend this never happened?  Pretend my brother is not in agony?”

“Yes, Thor.  If you do not wish your brother to be labelled a traitor by our people, you will.”

* * *

 Loki was alive.  No longer in the infirmary, he was tucked away in his bed hidden behind the green canopy.  A small break in the fabric let him see out to the door.  It, too, was shut.  Still, something told him that he was not alone.  He pushed himself upright and looked down at his arms.  The scars were mostly smooth lines only becoming jagged as they reached the inside of his elbows where he could no longer keep the blade straight.

A shadow moved against the canopy drawing Loki’s eyes away from his handiwork.  He shoved his arms under the blanket.  Whoever had found him knew what he’d done.  Instead of ending his father’s disappointment, he had increased it tenfold.  He should have slit his own throat instead.  Maybe then he would have succeeded.

“Are you awake now?” Thor asked.

There was something strange in his voice.  The way he asked.  Loki stared at his brother’s shadow.  Something he would never compare to.  Loki tried to summon his magic.  Tried to weave a spell of invisibility around himself only to find that he could not reach his magic.  A quick search concluded that it was still within him, but something was keeping it from being used.  Another second of two of examination told him that the spell was his mother’s.

Thor’s hand closed around the canopy.  Loki held his breath, waiting for him to start yelling.  He had to know.  Whoever had found him surely must have told his brother what Loki had done.  Or tried to do.  That was why his mother had blocked his magic.  Why he was hidden in his bed chambers instead of in the infirmary.

“Mother has sealed away your magic.” Thor told him, pulling back the canopy and staring down at him.

“What did she tell you?” Loki asked, staring down at his blankets.

“The seal is temporary.”

“What did she tell you about me?” He clarified.

Thor was quiet.  He wasn’t normally so quiet, yet his silence dragged.  At last, Loki looked up at his brother.  His eyes were dark with a hollowness Loki had only ever seen in a mirror.  His jaw was clenched tightly shut.  His whole body was stiff.

“Did she tell you how they found me?” He asked.

Thor remained silent, still.  Loki could hardly stand the haunted way his brother was looking at him.  At the same time, once Loki had looked at him, he couldn’t look away.  He needed to know.  He needed Thor to say it.  Acknowledge it.

Finally, Thor blinked and looked down at his own hands.  He seemed to shrink before Loki’s eyes.  Shrivel into himself.  Loki opened his mouth to ask again, but Thor spoke at last.

“I found you.” He confessed on a whisper.  It may as well have been a scream for all the assault the admission did to Loki’s ears.  He had never considered that Thor would be the first to see him.  That his brother would be the one to deal with the aftermath.

Regret was cold in Loki’s chest.  The new look on his big brother’s face, that haunted emptiness behind his eyes, was all his fault. 

“There was so much blood,” Thor continued, his voice getting no louder.  “I tried to stop it, but it was everywhere.  So _much_.”

Loki opened his mouth to speak.  His instinct was to offer words of comfort to his brother, but what could he possibly say?  What could make it better?  Thor was destroyed.  Devastated.  Disillusioned.

Thor cleared his throat.  “No one else knows.”

“What?”

“Mother, Father, you, and I are the only ones that know that you tried… to take your own life.”  The words were stilted.  As though they didn’t fit right in his mouth.

“Oh.  I see.  That’s good, I suppose.”  He didn’t really know if it was good or not.  Thor didn’t seem to think so.

Loki watched his brother.  He seemed to slip between quiet rage and utter grief.  Loki lifted a hand to brush his hair back from his face and Thor’s eyes snapped to the scar.  His jaw trembled.  Loki shoved his arm back under the blanket quickly.

“You’re angry with me.” Loki observed.

“You tried to break our promise.” Thor snapped.  He shook his head and tugged the canopy back into place before leaving the room.  Leaving Loki alone to deal with the aftermath of his attempted suicide.


End file.
